By NIyi Jacobs
Nigeria’s insurance industry must move beyond the recently concluded recapitalisation exercise and demonstrate how the additional capital is translating into stronger underwriting capacity, faster claims settlement, innovative products and greater public confidence, the Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, has said.
Omosehin spoke at the BusinessDay Insurance Conference 2026, themed “From Capital to Capacity: Driving Growth, Innovation and Trust in Nigeria’s Insurance Sector.”
He said recapitalisation should mark the beginning of a new phase for the industry, stressing that its success should not be measured by the amount of capital raised but by what the capital enables insurers to achieve.
“Capital without capacity is merely a number on a balance sheet,” Omosehin said.
According to him, the additional capital must strengthen underwriting, claims-paying ability, governance, technology, customer service and product innovation.
He said Nigeria’s growing population, infrastructure investments, digital economy, agricultural transformation and expanding middle class present significant opportunities for insurers, provided they have the capacity to underwrite major risks, retain more business domestically and develop products for underserved markets.
Omosehin also identified innovation as critical to the sector’s future, noting that consumers increasingly demand convenience, speed, transparency and simplicity.
“The future belongs to insurers that embrace innovation,” he said, urging operators to leverage technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence responsibly to improve service delivery.
He further identified trust as the foundation of sustainable insurance growth, stressing that claims settlement remains the most visible demonstration of an insurer’s value.
“The true test of any insurance company is not how many policies it sells. The true test is how effectively it responds when policyholders need support,” he said.
The Commissioner also called for greater investment in human capital, professional education and ethical leadership to address emerging risks, including cyber threats, climate-related exposures and artificial intelligence.
He urged stakeholders to work together to transform capital into capability, capability into innovation, innovation into trust and trust into sustainable growth.
