Insurance firms race to meet NAICOM’s May 31 recapitalisation verification deadline
National Insurance Commission NAICOM
Nike Popoola
Insurance companies are intensifying efforts to meet the May 31 deadline set by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for firms to invite auditors for verification of their recapitalisation plans.
Speaking at the recent Insurers’ Committee event in Lagos, the Chairman of the Communications and Stakeholders Engagement Sub-Committee, Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, said operators were reminded of the urgency of the recapitalisation exercise.
She said, “the Commissioner for Insurance highlighted that we have about just a few weeks to the recapitalization deadline. He emphasized the positive reasons for NIIRA 2025 and for this exercise, and advised companies to take it very seriously. The auditors who are doing the verification exercise, are going around organizations to verify capital, and so far the commission is pleased with what it has seen. May 31 is the deadline upon which company should invite NAICOM to verify, and he highlighted that date.”
The Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Omosehin, earlier in the year disclosed that several insurance companies had notified NAICOM of their capital adequacy and readiness for verification ahead of the July 2026 deadline.
He explained that the commission had assigned companies to independent verifiers for the exercise. “What we did is to allocate them to verifiers, the consultants that will do the work. Those people are already on the field. We have given them a timeframe to complete the exercise and report back to us,” he said.
The Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 introduced higher Minimum Capital Requirements (MCR) for operators and provided a 12-month compliance window.
Under the new framework, life insurance companies are required to raise capital from ₦2 billion to ₦10 billion, non-life insurers from ₦3 billion to ₦15 billion, while reinsurance companies must increase capital from ₦10 billion to ₦35 billion.
The recapitalisation exercise, aimed at strengthening resilience and competitiveness in the sector, is expected to conclude by July 30, 2026.
While some operators have said they have met the requirements, NAICOM is yet to officially confirm any fully recapitalised company.
The regulator has, however, assured that no licensed insurance company in Nigeria will be allowed to fail during the recapitalisation process.
