Risk management professionals under the aegis of Risk Managers Society of Nigeria
(RIMSON)have risen from the Society’s 2020 National Risk Management Conference listing
resolutions geared at harnessing both individual and collective strategies for tackling
emerging risk management challenges. The conference which took place on
Wednesday, 9th December 2020 at Ikeja Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Lagos, Nigeria,
witnessed robust deliberations focusing the following presentations:
• RIMSON @ 35: Repositioning for Emerging Risk Management Challenges, delivered by
Mr Prosper Okpue, Vice Chairman, IBN and Director, Middle East & Africa, UNIBA Partners.
• Enterprise Risk Management-A Review, delivered by Mr Sanni Oladimeji, Deputy
General Manager/Head, Risk Management & Compliance Department, Sovereign Trust
Insurance PLC
• Understanding the Convergence of Risk Oversight with Strategic Planning, delivered by
Mr Monday Utomwen, Chief Risk Officer, WAICA Re.
• Managing Reputational Risk in a Hyper-Connected World, delivered by Mrs Sally Okey￾Umahi, Executive Director, Platinum Edge Consulting LTD
• Disruptive Technologies and Innovations: Strategies for Ensuring Business Continuity,
delivered by Mr Henry Akwara, CEO, Mayflora Consulting LTD.
Other highlights of the conference were:
• The celebration of 35 years of RIMSON’s Risk Management Advocacy with goodwill
messages by Mr Sunday Thomas, Commissioner for Insurance (represented), Mr Prosper
Okpue(represented), Mrs Efiom-Ekaha, (past president), Mr Odunayo Bammeke (past
president) and Mr Val Ojumah (Chairman of Society of Fellows) who delivered his address
virtually.
• Unveiling of the 2020 Risk Management Digest, RIMSON’s flagship publication, and
• The induction of eight new Fellows, namely:
• Mr Anthony Tippa,
• Mr Eric Omozejele,
• Mr Usohu Ohi-Zaiki Isegen,
• Mrs Dominga Odebunmi,
• Dr Abdulkadir Danlami Sani,
• Prince Olumide David Atanda
• Mrs Ololade Adesola and
• Dr Raji Sarafadeen Adebayo.
A total of 26 others were inducted as Associates of the Society, and one person admitted as a member.

The conference identified, amongst others:
• The unique risk management challenges foisted on the world by the coronavirus
pandemic, focusing the pains, the gains and the losses occasioned by the pandemic.
• The huge risk reawakening for individuals and businesses, leading to the emergence of
new and novel manifestations of risk management expectations across the diverse
spheres of human endeavours.
• A severe social and economic global impact of COVID-19, foremost of these being the
health crisis, significant financial distress for businesses and palpable frustration of
existential imperatives,
• The revelation of cracks/ weaknesses in Controls and a manifest general
unpreparedness in responding to systemic risks
• The emergence of new risk frontiers, engendering a world faced with both uncertainty
and rapid change which has seen businesses experiencing rising risk levels ditto for
customers, shareholders, governments, and society at large.
• Rising risk exposures, business disruption and beckoning business continuity planning
and real time risk mitigation
• Ever increasing use and reliance on technology, data, data analytics and regulations.
• New and compelling ways of doing things including remote working, virtual meetings,
and less physical interactions all of which come with new risk implications/exposures.
In his opening address, President of RIMSON, Mr Raymond Akalonu, FRMN, charged
members to maximize the opportunities offered by the Society, especially the vast
training/retraining and knowledge-sharing opportunities for the sharpening of their skills
and expertise in the technicalities of risk management across their diverse practices.
Akalonu also spoke about the milestones recorded by RIMSON as part of the Body’s 35-
year trajectory, stating that in the ensuing years, it has listed new targets for itself,
including the plan to acquire property in Lagos and Abuja for the Society’s permanent
secretariats, a drive to boost the Society’s membership across the major cadres as well
as the propagation of risk management education beyond the shores of Nigeria,
especially the West African Sub-Region by deploying its subsidiary, the Centre for Risk
Management Development (CRMD) which is approved by the Federal Ministry of
Education, amongst others.