The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is leveraging key provisions of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 to increase oversight functions, drive innovation and boost inclusion in the country’s financial services sector.
The reforms according to the Commission aims to strengthen risk-based supervision, enforce stricter market conduct rules, and accelerate innovation through new frameworks like regulatory sandboxes.
Olusegun Omosehin, commissioner for Insurance/ CEO, NAICOM who dropped the hint during a welcome remarks at the 2025 NAIPE Annual Media Retreat held in Abeokuta said with a sharp focus on consumer protection and financial inclusion, the Commission is positioning the sector for sustainable growth and broader economic impact.
Omosehin said NAICOM is rolling out a comprehensive reform agenda aimed at strengthening regulatory oversight, improving market conduct, and expanding access to underserved communities.
At the heart of these changes is a renewed commitment to risk-based supervision, with NAICOM targeting high-risk institutions while fostering sustainable growth.
“We are focused on ensuring insurers align their capital, controls, and strategy with their risk profile,” Omosehin said, highlighting adoption of advanced supervisory tools to deliver a more resilient and efficient insurance market.
He said market discipline is also tightening, pointing that NAICOM has elevated expectations for disclosure, fair pricing, and claims transparency, introducing stricter standards for how policies are sold and serviced.
He also emphasized the Commission’s stand on zero-tolerance stance for delayed or no payment of genuine claims, backing this with shortened complaint resolution windows and clearer escalation paths for policyholders.
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Emphasising the importance of data in driving insurance regulation, he said data is emerging as a cornerstone of the new framework, enabling NAICOM to detect trends early, benchmark performance across firms, and inform policy using real-time regulatory returns. Public-facing snapshots of market indicators are also in the works to improve transparency and build trust.
Omosehin also said the Commission is pushing for deeper financial inclusion by supporting microinsurance, Takaful, InsurTech, and web aggregators.
“New efforts are underway to embed insurance products into high-impact sectors like agriculture, MSMEs, transport, and digital marketplaces, meeting consumers where they live and work.
To spur innovation without compromising oversight, NAICOM has established an Innovation Hub and Regulatory Sandbox, giving room for emerging models like parametric insurance, embedded coverage, and usage-based pricing. These frameworks are designed to strike a balance between experimentation and consumer protection.
NIIRA 2025, the recently enacted Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act, underpins these initiatives. It introduces modernized licensing criteria, stricter capital adequacy requirements based on risk profiles, and statutory backing for innovation and data transparency, the Commission said.
