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•Says NIIRA 2025 game-changer
A former top executive of AXA Mansard Insurance, Rashidat Adebisi, has thrown her weight behind Nigeria’s $1 trillion economic ambition, unveiling a key reform agenda she says will reposition the insurance sector as a central pillar of national growth.
Adebisi, who exited the board of AXA Mansard effective December 31, 2025, after 21 years in institutional finance, announced the launch of “The Re-Architecture Project”, a strategic pivot designed to align insurance and financial systems with the Federal Government’s trillion-dollar GDP target.
At a time when the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA 2025) is reshaping the regulatory terrain, Adebisi described the moment as decisive.
“This is a watershed for our industry. The journey to a $1 trillion economy requires more than capital. It requires a total re-architecture of how our financial systems engage the informal economy”, she said.
Africa’s informal sector accounts for more than 60 per cent of employment, a reality she says Nigeria can no longer afford to overlook.
Rather than treating insurance as a peripheral financial product, Adebisi insists it must become the engine of resilience.
“The Re-Architecture Project reframes insurance as the secret sauce of a stable economy.
“Insurance is the net that allows a nation to jump higher.
“Every decimal point in a financial model represents a business stabilised and a future secured”, she declared.
She warned that insurance penetration across many African markets remains below three per cent, a glaring protection gap that leaves households and businesses vulnerable to shocks.
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According to her, Nigeria’s biggest hurdle is not funding but what she calls “invisible infrastructure” trust, access and regulatory clarity.
She argued that NIIRA 2025 should be seen not as regulatory pressure but as structural reinforcement.
The reform’s emphasis on capital recalibration, stronger governance and consumer protection, she noted, provides the institutional rigour required to sustain a trillion-dollar GDP.
“Those who view compliance as a burden will struggle; those who see it as a competitive advantage will thrive,” Adebisi said, highlighting the need for strategic policy fluency in the years ahead.
One of the flagship initiatives under her blueprint is “Engineering Inclusive Ecosystems,” powered by the FileAm App. The platform aims to transform tax compliance into a seamless digital utility for SMEs and informal entrepreneurs.
By pulling millions into formal digital tax rails, insurance coverage and structured credit systems, she believes the country can convert economic invisibility into measurable productivity.
“The wealth pipeline begins with identity and verifiable credentials,” she explained. “Compliance becomes credit history. Credit history becomes access to capital. And capital builds intergenerational wealth.”
A Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and alumna of the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, Adebisi says her philosophy is simple but urgent: “Data-aware. Policy-conscious. Africa-focused.”
She urged policymakers and industry leaders to move beyond incremental reforms and begin building interoperable systems capable of sustaining long-term continental growth.
“The future of finance in Africa will not be inherited. It will be architected “It is our turn to build”, she stated.
