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•Scorecard’ll separate leaders from laggards, say stakeholders
By Henry Uche
“It’s time to separate insurance industry leaders from laggards”. That is how stakeholders sum up the planned release of a comprehensive industry performance report by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
The move, which is putting insurers across Nigeria on edge, will publicly assess them based on service delivery, claims settlement and operational efficiency.
Specifically, it will include insurers’ turnaround times, claims ratios and complaint outcomes. It will also empower customers to make informed choices while compelling insurance firms to compete on service delivery rather than marketing slogans.
Industry watchers say the planned scorecard will ultimately transform competition in the sector by shifting the focus from aggressive marketing and branding to measurable service outcomes, especially in a market long criticised for weak accountability and low consumer trust.
Stakeholders say the disclosures will enable informed decision-making, better planning on insurance matters, and improved policy design by all parties in the value chain. The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) also plans to unveil a phased risk-based capital and governance roadmap with proportional provisions for smaller and specialist operators, aimed at strengthening industry stability while promoting inclusive and sustainable growth in Nigeria’s insurance market.
At a forum comprising leadership of banking, insurance, capital market, pensions, asset management, fintech, professional services, among others, the Commissioner for Insurance/Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Omosehin, reiterated his commitment to shared data, transparent milestones and periodic public scorecards, with a long-term vision of a stronger, more competitive, and more developmental insurance market.
According to him, such a market must serve as a reliable safety net for individuals and businesses, helping Nigerians withstand economic shocks while also channeling long-term savings into productive investments that support national development and the country’s ambition to become Africa’s most dynamic financial hub.
Speaking on the theme, “Regulation With Purpose: Building Trust, Unlocking Growth,” Omosehin said the major challenge before the insurance industry is how to transform persistent low penetration levels and weak public confidence into inclusive growth, resilience, and relevance for households, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and the broader national economy.
Addressing industry leaders and stakeholders, he noted that the guiding principle of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is a regulatory approach that builds trust while unlocking growth opportunities across the sector.
He explained that purposeful regulation must achieve multiple objectives simultaneously in order to strengthen the insurance ecosystem and restore confidence in the market.
According to him, purposeful regulation protects policyholders by ensuring clear conduct standards, prompt claims settlement, strong capitalisation and credible enforcement, while also creating an environment that supports innovation.
Such regulation, he said, must also introduce predictable and technology-friendly rules that make it easier for insurers to develop products, expand digital distribution channels and responsibly utilise alternative data sources without compromising consumer protection.
At the same time, it must reinforce market discipline so that competition in the industry rewards solvency, sound governance, pricing integrity and quality service delivery rather than regulatory arbitrage.
“Our role is not merely to supervise after the fact, but to shape an environment where good firms thrive, customers are treated fairly, and long-term capital forms around stable, insurable risks.
“The new Insurance Reform Act provided the impetus to scale the transformation. With NIIRA 2025 now in force, we have a once-in-a- generation opportunity to modernise the rulebook, raise governance and prudential standards, accelerate digitisation, and expand access”.
Omosehin said the Commission’s regulatory agenda will focus on five key priorities that reinforce one another in strengthening the industry.
The first is financial soundness, which involves implementing risk-based capital requirements and Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA)-driven supervision that scale with the complexity of insurance institutions.
The second priority is governance and compliance, which will focus on ensuring fit and proper leadership within insurance companies, strong risk management and audit functions, and greater accountability at the board level.
Another key area is consumer fairness, which will emphasise clear product terms, disciplined pricing and distribution practices, faster and more transparent claims settlement, as well as an effective system of complaint resolution and redress.
He also identified market conduct and operational practices as an important regulatory priority, stressing the need for data-driven supervision, stronger underwriting discipline, improved fraud detection mechanisms and greater integrity in claims reserving practices.
In addition, the Commission plans to prioritise innovation and digitisation through regulatory sandboxes and fast-track approval processes for inclusive products such as microinsurance, parametric insurance and embedded insurance solutions, while ensuring robust safeguards for cyber security and consumer data protection.
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“Effective regulation is a balance, not a tradeoff. It requires a delicate balance between enforcement, compliance and growth.
“Firm where it matters: capital adequacy, liquidity, reinsurance quality, claims discipline, AML/CFT, and truthful disclosures are non- negotiable.
“Flexible where it helps: proportional requirements for micro insurers and digital natives; sandbox pathways for new models; outcome-based rules that accommodate technology and alternative distribution.
“Faster where it counts: service level commitments for approvals and market entries; digitised filings; data once, used many times.”
He further assured stakeholders that the Commission will continue working to reduce regulatory uncertainty, shorten decision timelines and deepen collaboration with other financial sector regulators to remove duplications that delay product development or increase costs for consumers.
“We will continue to reduce regulatory uncertainty, compress decision timelines, and collaborate with sister regulators to eliminate duplications that slow product deployment or raise costs for consumers.
“Penetration improves where trust is consistent. That means pricing that reflects risk and is explained clearly; claims that are paid fully and on time; complaints that are resolved; and data that are secure”.
Omosehin emphasised that the transformation of the insurance sector cannot be achieved by the regulator alone, stressing the importance of collaboration across the entire industry value chain.
He noted that the Commission intends to work closely with insurance operators to co-design practical regulations, modernise agency and brokerage models and strengthen collective efforts to combat fraud within the industry.
He also highlighted the importance of partnerships with the broader financial and professional services ecosystem, including banks, mobile money operators, telecommunications companies, pension funds and capital market institutions.
Such collaboration, he explained, would help mainstream premium financing, expand embedded and bundled protection products and facilitate risk-based financing for critical infrastructure development.
Similarly, closer engagement with policymakers will help align policies and reforms that expand insurable risks and create investible pools of capital, while partnerships with consumer associations will help improve financial literacy, mediation and consumer redress systems.
He also stressed the need to operationalise a structured innovation pathway that would allow new business models to emerge within a controlled regulatory environment.
This, he said, would involve establishing sandbox cohorts with defined timelines, developing standard application programming interfaces (APIs) for supervisory data reporting and providing regulatory clarity for digital and embedded insurance models.
The Commission also plans to introduce market conduct rules that will set measurable service-level agreements for claims settlement and complaints resolution.
In addition, NAICOM will begin quarterly publication of firm-level service metrics and digitise key regulatory interactions such as licensing processes, product approvals and statutory filings.
“Strengthen cross-regulator coordination with CBN, SEC, FCCPC, etc, to streamline approvals. Regulation can set the floor and the tempo, but transformation requires discipline and partnership across the ecosystem. I ask operators to invest in governance and service, to embrace transparent pricing and claims practices, and to compete on trust.
“I ask our partners in banking, pensions, capital markets, and telecoms to integrate protection into their customer journeys. And I ask our consumer advocates to continue holding us, regulator and operators, accountable for fair outcomes.
“As we stand on the threshold of a new era for Nigeria’s insurance sector, our task is not simply to reform rules, it is to reshape confidence, rebuild credibility, and reposition insurance as a strategic pillar of national development.
“Transformation, from a regulatory perspective, means embedding discipline, transparency, innovation, and fairness so deeply into the fabric of the market that trust becomes instinctive, not conditional. It means designing a system where compliance is not a burden but a catalyst for scale, efficiency, and investment. Above all, it means ensuring that every Nigerian, household, business, farmer, entrepreneur, feels the protection and economic empowerment that a strong insurance system provides,” he affirmed.
Meanwhile, stakeholders, including insurance analysts, have expressed support for the reform direction outlined by Omosehin, while urging the Commissioner to translate the ambitious agenda into concrete results that will leave a lasting legacy.
One analyst, who spoke anonymously, said the Commission must ensure that its policy direction leads to real improvements in insurance penetration and public trust.
“He has promised a lot, let him back his words with actions. He is not there to please anybody, not even his employer. So he must deliver on mandate, the major challenge before him is low penetration. Let him change the debilitating figure of one percent, we are the biggest country in Africa by population, but sadly our insurance penetration is shameful. So the Commissioner has a big task before him,” the analyst charged.
