AIICO Insurance Plc has become aware of a sustained campaign of false and misleading allegations being circulated by Mr. Obinna Adolphus Nwosu, a former agent of the company to various stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies, media organisations, bloggers, employees and other members of the public.

For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Nwosu’s appointment as an agent of AIICO Insurance Plc was terminated. Following the termination of his appointment, the company published a public notice in national newspapers on June 26, 2025, expressly warning customers and members of the public against continuing to transact or maintain any business relationship with him on behalf of, or in connection with, AIICO Insurance Plc.

Notwithstanding this, Mr. Nwosu has continued to circulate false and misleading narratives about the Company through various channels, including digital platforms and direct communications with stakeholders.

His persistent and increasingly aggressive efforts to disseminate these claims have the potential to cause unwarranted damage to the company’s reputation and create unnecessary concern among its employees, customers and other stakeholders.

AIICO Insurance Plc wishes to state unequivocally that these allegations are false and should be treated with the utmost caution. Rather than engage in a media exchange or submit to a trial in the court of public opinion, the company has elected to pursue the matter through the appropriate legal channels and has consequently commenced a defamation action against Mr. Nwosu at the Lagos State High Court.

AIICO Insurance Plc will not be drawn into a public exchange with a former agent who has chosen to continue making unsubstantiated allegations while the matter is being pursued through the courts. The company remains confident that the facts will be properly examined and determined through the established judicial process.

Members of the media, regulators, employees, customers and the public are therefore urged to exercise due caution and discountenance the false and misleading narratives being circulated by Mr. Nwosu.

Mr. Nwosu should make himself available to receive the relevant court processes and allow the matter to proceed in accordance with the law, rather than continuing to prosecute his claims through digital media and direct approaches to individuals within and outside the company.

Any genuine grievance or complaint should be presented through the appropriate regulatory, investigative or judicial channels, where it can be properly examined and determined based on verifiable facts and evidence.

AIICO Insurance Plc remains committed to the highest standards of integrity, accountability and transparency.

The company will continue to pursue all lawful avenues available to protect its reputation, its employees, customers and other stakeholders and to ensure that the matter is resolved through due process and in accordance with the law.

L-R: Ademola Abidogun, Managing Director/CEO, Guinea Insurance Plc and Olusegun Omosehin, Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) during the new licence presentation to Guinea Insurance Plc in Abuja.

AXA Mansard Insurance Plc has sustained its growth momentum in the first half of 2026, posting a 14 per cent increase in profit after tax to ₦7.8 billion while reaffirming that it is well positioned to meet the new minimum capital requirements under the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.

The insurer’s half-year performance comes as insurance companies intensify efforts to strengthen their balance sheets ahead of the industry’s recapitalisation programme, with operators increasingly focusing on underwriting discipline, digital transformation and business expansion to improve profitability despite macroeconomic headwinds.

The company’s unaudited financial results showed that insurance revenue rose by 19 per cent to ₦96.5 billion from ₦81.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025, while Gross Written Premium (GWP) increased by 17 per cent to ₦134.9 billion, reflecting strong business growth across its Property and Casualty, Life and Health businesses.

Health insurance remained the fastest-growing business line, with premiums rising by 32 per cent to ₦60.6 billion, followed by Life and Savings, which expanded by 21 per cent to ₦20.4 billion. Property and Casualty business also posted growth, with premiums increasing three per cent to ₦54 billion.

The insurer also recorded a 43 per cent growth in Insurance Service Result to ₦13.2 billion, underlining stronger underwriting performance across all business segments, while earnings per share increased by 15 per cent.

Despite recording a foreign exchange loss of ₦2.9 billion during the period, the company’s underlying earnings remained resilient. Excluding the foreign exchange impact, profit after tax would have increased by 54 per cent to ₦10.7 billion, highlighting significant improvements in underwriting performance and investment income.

Commenting on the performance, Chief Financial Officer of AXA Mansard, Ngozi Ola-Israel, attributed the growth to improved customer retention, expansion of new business and stronger underwriting performance.

She said the company remained focused on disciplined underwriting, cost optimisation and strengthening its balance sheet to deliver sustainable long-term value for shareholders.

“In H1 2026, we sustained topline momentum with a 19 per cent year-on-year increase in insurance revenues, underpinned by strong performance across all segments driven by our drive for new business and improved retention metrics.

“We delivered strong profit after tax of ₦7.8 billion, reflecting a 14 per cent year-on-year increase and a much stronger growth in the underlying earnings trajectory. Excluding foreign exchange impacts, profit after tax would have grown by 54 per cent,” she said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Kunle Ahmed, said the performance demonstrated the resilience of the company’s diversified business model despite prevailing economic challenges.

He added that the insurer remains adequately capitalised to comply with NAICOM’s new minimum capital requirements, describing the company’s balance sheet as strong enough to support future growth.

“On capital adequacy, I am pleased to confirm that the Group remains well positioned to meet the new minimum capital requirements stipulated by NAICOM, underscoring the strength of our balance sheet and our commitment to maintaining a robust capital base,” Ahmed said.

He noted that the company would continue to prioritise profitable growth, strengthen underwriting standards, improve cost discipline and deepen investments in digital technology and data analytics as macroeconomic conditions gradually improve.

The performance, according to him, reflects the improving financial health of leading insurance companies as operators continue to balance premium growth with underwriting profitability amid inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility and rising operating costs.

The strong growth in insurance revenue and underwriting income indicates increasing resilience in the company’s core operations, while its ability to remain profitable despite foreign exchange losses underscores the effectiveness of its risk management and business diversification strategy.

To him, the ongoing recapitalisation of the insurance industry is encouraging operators to strengthen their capital positions, improve operational efficiency and invest in technology to enhance customer experience and underwriting capacity.

The company’s total assets rose by 18 per cent to ₦269.9 billion, while shareholders’ funds increased by 11 per cent to ₦58 billion, reinforcing its financial position ahead of the industry’s recapitalisation deadline.

The results come at a pivotal period for Nigeria’s insurance industry as operators race to comply with the recapitalisation provisions of the NIIRA 2025, which seek to create stronger insurers capable of underwriting large-ticket risks in oil and gas, aviation, marine, infrastructure and other strategic sectors of the economy.

With sustained growth in insurance revenue, underwriting income and profitability, AXA Mansard appears well positioned to leverage opportunities in Nigeria’s underpenetrated insurance market while delivering long-term value to shareholders and policyholders through stronger capitalisation, operational efficiency and disciplined execution.

An underwriting firm, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc has sustained its growth momentum in the first half of 2026, posting a 14 per cent increase in profit after tax to ₦7.8 billion while reaffirming that it is well positioned to meet the new minimum capital requirements under the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.

The insurer’s half-year performance comes as insurance companies intensify efforts to strengthen their balance sheets ahead of the industry’s recapitalisation programme, with operators increasingly focusing on underwriting discipline, digital transformation and business expansion to improve profitability despite macroeconomic headwinds.

The company’s unaudited financial results showed that insurance revenue rose by 19 per cent to ₦96.5 billion from ₦81.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025, while Gross Written Premium (GWP) increased by 17 per cent to ₦134.9 billion, reflecting strong business growth across its Property and Casualty, Life and Health businesses.

Health insurance remained the fastest-growing business line, with premiums rising by 32 per cent to ₦60.6 billion, followed by Life and Savings, which expanded by 21 per cent to ₦20.4 billion. Property and Casualty business also posted growth, with premiums increasing three per cent to ₦54 billion.

The insurer also recorded a 43 per cent growth in Insurance Service Result to ₦13.2 billion, underlining stronger underwriting performance across all business segments, while earnings per share increased by 15 per cent.

Despite recording a foreign exchange loss of ₦2.9 billion during the period, the company’s underlying earnings remained resilient. Excluding the foreign exchange impact, profit after tax would have increased by 54 per cent to ₦10.7 billion, highlighting significant improvements in underwriting performance and investment income.

Commenting on the performance, Chief Financial Officer of AXA Mansard, Ngozi Ola-Israel, attributed the growth to improved customer retention, expansion of new business and stronger underwriting performance.

She said the company remained focused on disciplined underwriting, cost optimisation and strengthening its balance sheet to deliver sustainable long-term value for shareholders.

“In H1 2026, we sustained topline momentum with a 19 per cent year-on-year increase in insurance revenues, underpinned by strong performance across all segments driven by our drive for new business and improved retention metrics.

“We delivered strong profit after tax of ₦7.8 billion, reflecting a 14 per cent year-on-year increase and a much stronger growth in the underlying earnings trajectory. Excluding foreign exchange impacts, profit after tax would have grown by 54 per cent,” she said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Kunle Ahmed, said the performance demonstrated the resilience of the company’s diversified business model despite prevailing economic challenges.

He added that the insurer remains adequately capitalised to comply with NAICOM’s new minimum capital requirements, describing the company’s balance sheet as strong enough to support future growth.

“On capital adequacy, I am pleased to confirm that the Group remains well positioned to meet the new minimum capital requirements stipulated by NAICOM, underscoring the strength of our balance sheet and our commitment to maintaining a robust capital base,” Ahmed said.

He noted that the company would continue to prioritise profitable growth, strengthen underwriting standards, improve cost discipline and deepen investments in digital technology and data analytics as macroeconomic conditions gradually improve.

The performance, according to him, reflects the improving financial health of leading insurance companies as operators continue to balance premium growth with underwriting profitability amid inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility and rising operating costs.

The strong growth in insurance revenue and underwriting income indicates increasing resilience in the company’s core operations, while its ability to remain profitable despite foreign exchange losses underscores the effectiveness of its risk management and business diversification strategy.

To him, the ongoing recapitalisation of the insurance industry is encouraging operators to strengthen their capital positions, improve operational efficiency and invest in technology to enhance customer experience and underwriting capacity.

The company’s total assets rose by 18 per cent to ₦269.9 billion, while shareholders’ funds increased by 11 per cent to ₦58 billion, reinforcing its financial position ahead of the industry’s recapitalisation deadline.

The results come at a pivotal period for Nigeria’s insurance industry as operators race to comply with the recapitalisation provisions of the NIIRA 2025, which seek to create stronger insurers capable of underwriting large-ticket risks in oil and gas, aviation, marine, infrastructure and other strategic sectors of the economy.

With sustained growth in insurance revenue, underwriting income and profitability, AXA Mansard appears well positioned to leverage opportunities in Nigeria’s underpenetrated insurance market while delivering long-term value to shareholders and policyholders through stronger capitalisation, operational efficiency and disciplined execution.

emPLE Nigeria has strengthened its capital position following the publication of her name on the list of approved companies on the official website of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), indicating that the company has met the applicable recapitalisation requirements, thereby reinforcing its financial strength and capacity to deliver sustainable value to customers and stakeholders across its Life and General Insurance businesses.

This marks a significant milestone in emPLE’s growth journey, reinforcing the company’s financial capacity to meet its obligations, pursue strategic growth opportunities and remain a long-term partner to individuals, families and businesses.

The company’s ability to deliver on this commitment was further demonstrated by the payment of over N7 billion in claims by emPLE Life Assurance Limited and emPLE General Insurance Limited in 2025, providing critical financial support to customers and beneficiaries and underscoring emPLE’s track record of standing by its customers when it matters most.

Speaking about the development, Olalekan Oyinlade, Managing Director, emPLE General Insurance Limited, said, “Meeting the recapitalisation requirement is important, but what matters most to us is what that strength enables us to do for our customers. Insurance is built on confidence. The confidence that when an unexpected event occurs, your insurer has both the capacity and the commitment to respond. Our strengthened capital position affirms that promise and gives us an even stronger foundation from which to serve our customers.”

He added: “The continued confidence of our shareholders and investors also reflects the strength of the business we are building, the quality of our leadership and the long-term opportunities we see in the Nigerian insurance market. We remain focused on building an institution that customers, partners and other stakeholders can rely on for many years to come.”

Commenting on the development, Jolaolu Fakoya, Managing Director, emPLE Life Assurance Limited, said, “Our business has always been centered on the people and the responsibility we carry when they entrust their families, businesses, assets and aspirations to us. A stronger capital position gives us greater capacity to fulfil that responsibility, deepen customer confidence and continue developing solutions that meet the real protection needs of Nigerians.”

He added, “As we look towards the next decade, our ambition goes beyond becoming a financially stronger insurer. We want to make insurance simpler, more accessible and more relevant to everyday Nigerians. That means investing in customer experience, embracing digital innovation, strengthening our partnerships and developing products that empower more people to protect what matters to them.”

For emPLE, this milestone highlights key fundamentals such as financial strength, the ability to pay claims, customer confidence and long-term trust on which insurance is built. With a stronger foundation in place, the company remains focused on building a people-centred insurance business that protects and empowers Nigerians today and into the future.

About emPLE

emPLE is a Nigerian insurance brand operating through emPLE General Insurance Limited and emPLE Life Assurance Limited, focused on delivering accessible protection solutions grounded in governance -, operational excellence, and sustainability.

The former Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Alhaji Mohammed Kari has charged the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele to ignore calls for regulatory concessions in the midst of the just concluded insurance industry recapitalisation exercise in the country.

The call, he said, is critical, especially, when the companies clamouring for such concessions were chronic defaulters whose failure or strict regulatory discipline poses absolutely zero systemic risk to the Nigerian financial system or the broader economy.

Recall that NAICOM had requested insurance companies, as part of the recapitalisation process, to transfer their entire recapitalisation funds into an escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a move that NICON Insurance and Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation are challenging in court.

NICON and Nigeria Re, in its July 27, 2026 petition, had petitioned NAICOM over what they described as unlawful fees and regulatory demands arising from the implementation of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.

The firms, through their lawyers, wrote the Ministry of Finance to also mandate NAICOM to suspend its demand that both companies transfer their entire recapitalisation funds into an escrow account with the CBN pending the determination of a petition challenging the legality of the charges and directive.

To this end, Kari, who was also a former MD/CEO of NICON Insurance and Nigeria Re, said it is globally accepted that a government may occasionally intervene to rescue or support a consequential player in the financial sector, strictly where its distress poses a genuine ‘too big to fail’ systemic risk whose collapse would trigger a wider economic catastrophe.

Kari, who is the current Wazirin Bauchi, said:

“However, one must examine the reality of the two institutions in question today. These are no longer the market giants they once were decades ago. Having suffered years of steep decline, loss of market share, and severe operational shrinkage, their current market footprint is virtually insignificant. Their failure or strict regulatory discipline poses absolutely zero systemic risk to the Nigerian financial system or the broader economy.”

Why then should government intervene to shield operators whose distress carries no systemic consequence whatsoever, he queried, saying that rescuing or granting regulatory concessions to insignificant chronic defaulters cannot be justified under any sound macro-economic policy.

When political intervention steps in to shield such non-systemic entities from standard regulatory checks, he noted that the equilibrium of the market breaks down as it creates unfair advantage.

To him, “operators that meet compliance targets, carry the full cost of regulatory fidelity, while non-compliant firms that secure political exemptions operate with an artificial cost advantage.

“It disincentivises real capacity building: When political lobbying becomes an alternative to recapitalisation, companies are discouraged from making the hard structural choices necessary to refine their balance sheets and operations.”

Saying such concession, if granted to both insurance industry players in defunct, “distorts investor confidence: Both domestic and international investors look for predictable, transparent environments. A playing field where rules can be bent for select players frightens away patient capital. It weakens policyholder protection. ”

Regulatory standards, he stressed, exists primarily to guarantee that when disaster strikes, claims are paid promptly, adding that shielding insolvent entities directly exposes policyholders to unmitigated risk.

Advising the minister, he noted that Nigeria’s insurance sector has enormous untapped potential, but it can only realise that potential if the government allows a level playing field to flourish.

“The Federal Government must resist the urge to grant special carve-outs or act as an informal court of appeal for failing operators. NAICOM is the state’s empowered regulator; it must be permitted to apply the law equally to every company, whether privately owned, historically state-created, or under asset management control. I trust that it is through this uncompromising stance that the Federal Ministry of Finance, which bears the ultimate responsibility for managing Nigeria’s economy, will give the right impression to investors, insurers, and reinsurers the world over. By upholding regulatory integrity and refusing to shield non-compliant operators, your Ministry will demonstrate that Nigeria is serious about financial discipline, thereby building lasting global confidence in the Nigerian insurance sector, ” he emphasised in his Open Letter to the Minister of Finance.

• emPLE General Insurance Limited
• emPLE Life Assurance Limited
• Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc
• Tangerine Life Insurance Limited
• Alliance & General Insurance Plc
• Guinea Insurance Plc
• Regency Alliance Insurance Plc

With this development, forty-eight (48) insurance companies and two (2) reinsurance companies have been confirmed and verified as compliant with the Minimum Capital Requirements stipulated under NIIRA 2025 and applicable insurance laws and guidelines issued by the Commission, thereby bringing the Nigerian insurance industry recapitalisation exercise to a successful conclusion.

Dr. Lucas Durojaiye

Managing Director/CEO

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading insurance companies has successfully met the new recapitalisation requirement for non-life insurance companies prescribed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), under the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act, (NIIRA) 2025. This feat has reinforced the Company’s financial strength and commitment to long-term growth.
The achievement marks another significant milestone in the Company’s journey of building a stronger, more resilient and future-ready insurance business, while positioning it to take advantage of emerging opportunities within Nigeria’s evolving insurance market.
Commenting on the development, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Dr. Lucas Durojaiye said the Company’s achievement reflects the confidence of its shareholders and stakeholders in its strategic direction and growth prospects.
In his words: “Meeting the new recapitalisation requirement is a significant milestone for Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc. It demonstrates the strength of our business, the confidence of our shareholders and our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of financial capacity and corporate governance.”
“We remain focused on delivering sustainable value to our policyholders, shareholders, brokers, agents and other stakeholders, while leveraging technology, innovation and customer-centric solutions to deepen insurance penetration across Nigeria.”
The Company noted that the recapitalisation milestone provides a stronger platform to support its strategic ambitions, enhance underwriting capacity and participate more effectively in opportunities across key sectors of the Nigerian economy.
According to the MD/CEO, the Company’s focus will remain on sustainable growth, prudent risk management, operational efficiency, digital transformation and superior customer experience, while maintaining a strong commitment to regulatory compliance. The achievement also underscores Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc’s confidence in the future of the Nigerian insurance industry and its determination to contribute meaningfully to the development of a stronger, more inclusive and resilient insurance sector.
Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has over the years demonstrated an uncompromising stance on professionalism providing a broad range of general insurance solutions to individuals, businesses and institutions. The Company is committed to delivering innovative, reliable and customer-focused insurance solutions while creating sustainable value for all its stakeholders.