About 872 Nigerian Students sat for the first ever Chartered Institute of Financial Analysts (CFA) Exams in Nigeria on Sunday, June 23rd, 2018. The exam was held at the Landmark event centre in Victoria Island Lagos.
Marniee Nottingham (British Council, Country Examinations Manager), Banji Fehintola, CFA Nigeria President.
Nigerians have for years travelled to Ghana or the United Kingdom to write CFA Exams, a situation that had caused a lot of discomfort and financial constraints for hundreds of students. Nigeria has about 2,000 CFAs.
For years, negative narratives and perception about Nigeria have been blamed for not holding the exam locally. Others also cited the monthly environmental sanitation held on the last Saturday of every month as another snag. According to the CFA Nigeria President, Banji, they “are glad to have been able to change the narratives and put Nigeria back positively on the global map.”
However, in a successful breakthrough, the local chapter of CFA led by Banji Fehintola, the President CFA Nigeria, and British Council Nigeria worked strenuously to ensure that the exam is held in Nigeria for the first time. Now, the exams will not only hold in Lagos, it will also hold in Abuja starting from December 2018.
According to Lucy Pearson Country Director for British Council Nigeria, conversations held months back between the Chartered Financial Analysts team and their exams team in Nigeria and culminated into the decision to hold the exam in the country.
Nairametrics founder, Ugodre was at the event and spoke to Banji, who confirmed that the event will now hold in Lagos and Abuja every year and simultaneously in both locations in June and December. The WorldWide President, Paul Smith also expressed his satisfaction at the turnout and was greatly impressed at the level of participation and conduct of the examination in Africa’s largest economy.
Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) credential is held by over 150,000 professionals around the world. In Nigeria alone, there are over 2,000 Chartered Financial Analysts who got their certifications from neighboring countries.
With the exam now holding in Nigeria, revenues such as forex, air travel, hotel accommodation, food and other logistics lost to Ghana, will likely be retained in Nigeria, a major economic boost for the country.
Standing – Leilani Hall, Dave Uduanu
All CFA Institute and CFA Society Nigeria reps
Organisers at the event also held a post-event after party for students with food, drinks, and music served immediately after the exam. Most of the students were young, and mostly under 30. It is also understood that the number of students who wrote the exam may have been more.
According to Banji, the decision to write the exam in Lagos was finalised after some students had already made ticket and travel reservations, making it difficult for them to change mid-way. They are however confident that the turnout will cross the 1000 mark when it is held in Lagos and Abuja in December. (Nairametrics)
