Nigerian insurance operators explore AfCFTA opportunities at maiden workshop

Abdullateef Fowewe

Operators in the Nigerian insurance industry, on Friday, brainstormed on how to explore opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), during its maiden AfCFTA Workshop 2025 in Lagos.

While speaking at the widely attended event, The Deputy Commissioner, Technical, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Dr. Usman Jankara, said there was need for uniformity in terms of regulation for effective implementation of the AfCTA because, without a harmonized regulation, it is virtually impossible to achieve.

According to him, there are questions around capital, governance system that will be in place, so having a harmonized framework for that is what will open up and create certainty.

The event, chaired by Mrs. Ekeoma Ezeibe, highlighted the vast opportunities AfCFTA presents for cross-border expansion and harmonisation of insurance regulations across Africa.

Ezeibe noted that with AfCFTA covering a region of $3.4 trillion GDP and 1.4 billion people, the sector anticipates increased demand for insurance services as regional value chains develop.

She said, “As the AfCFTA eventually harmonises trade and investment regulations across member countries, it is critical that the insurance sector of Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, begins to contemplate the following opportunities and challenges in a continent-wide insurance regulatory regime:

“Harmonisation of insurance regulations among state parties in order to achieve market confidence and growth and a regulatory balance that protects consumers; multinationalism and reciprocity; standardization of practice; cross-boarder opportunities and risks; trade in services without barrier; intra-continental movement of personnel; and creation of a single big market as against a near stagnant market.”

She noted that in 2022, NAICOM set up the Nigerian Insurance Industry Committee on African Continental Free Trade Area (NII-AfCFTA Committee).

The Committee is to, among other things, co-ordinate the Nigerian insurance industry’s strategie response to AfCFTA, as well as liaise with the AfCFTA Secretariat and other bodies in the implementation of the Agreement in the Nigerian insurance industry, she said.