The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) says 20 operators in the market have already invited the Commission to verify their capital base in line with the on-going industry recapitalisation exercise set to elapse by July 31, 2026.
Following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 on July 31, 2025, NAICOM) rolled out a 12-month recapitalisation exercise for insurance and reinsurance companies operating in the country under a Risk-Based Capital (RBC) model.
The NIIRA 2025 legislation introduced a higher Minimum Capital Requirements (MCR) of N10 billion for life, N15 billion for non-life, N25 billion for composite and N35 billion for reinsurance companies in Nigeria with a deadline of July 2026.
At a media interactive session in Lagos yesterday, Mr. Segun Omosehin, the Commissioner for Insurance/CEO of NAICOM stated that verification of the industry entities has already commenced while the Commission has also appointed four leading professional accounting firms: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young (EY) to guarantee the needed transparency for the capital verification exercise.
The NAICOM CEO said: “We receive capital verification notices from companies every month. By the end of March, we shall invite those we’ve not heard from to know where they stand on the recapitalisation exercise. We are committed to the reforms in the insurance sector. July 31, 2026 is sacrosanct for the recapitalisation exercise. We shall keep the insuring public abreast of the recapitalisation process. We promise to lead the sector with clarity, transparency and willingness to succeed.”
Omosehin emphasised that the transformation policy in the insurance sector is in tandem with the $1 trillion economy policy of the Federal Government.
He said the 2026 agenda of the Commission is Disciplined Execution driven by three major factors:
- Financial Soundness
- Policyholders Protection
- Ensuring Fairness in Regulation
The NAICOM boss added that the Commission has created the Policyholders Insurance Protection Fund with the first quarter of 2026 as take-off period.
He explained that the Fund will take care of policyholders in terms of valid claims in the event of any insurer that experiences insolvency.
