Business
CPPE cautions CBN against monetary tightening ahead of the MPC meeting
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has warned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) against excessive monetary tightening ahead of the 305th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
The group cautioned that higher interest rates could weaken economic growth, private-sector investment, industrial productivity, and employment.
The warning came in a statement signed by the Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, Muda Yusuf, on Sunday.
At the February MPC meeting, the committee reduced the borrowing rate by 50 basis points to 26.5 per cent, and scheduled the 305th meeting for 19 and 20 May.
CPPE said expectations ahead of the MPC meeting should be viewed in the context of growing domestic macroeconomic pressures, geopolitical tensions, and rising fiscal liquidity risks.
According to the think tank, escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran have already triggered volatility in the global energy market, with implications for inflation, energy costs, and business operations in Nigeria.
“Of immediate significance are the escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, which have triggered renewed volatility in the global energy market.
“The resulting surge in crude oil prices is already transmitting into higher domestic energy costs, with significant implications for inflationary pressures, production costs, transportation, logistics, and overall business operating conditions within the economy,” CPPE said.
Concerns
CPPE also raised concerns over increasing liquidity injections linked to political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections, warning that rising political spending and improved Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements to states could worsen inflationary pressures.
“At the domestic level, early signs of election-related liquidity injections ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle are also becoming increasingly evident.
“Rising political spending by aspirants and political parties, increased election-related expenditures, and substantially improved Federation Account Allocation Committee [FAAC] disbursements to subnational governments present material risks to liquidity management and inflation containment,” the group stated.
It said recent engagement by the CBN with state governments on inflationary risks associated with fiscal injections reflects growing official concerns over excess liquidity in the economy.
CPPE noted that the MPC may therefore adopt a cautious tightening stance or maintain its current restrictive monetary policy position to manage inflation expectations and sustain investor confidence.
“Accordingly, there is a strong possibility that the Committee may be inclined towards a cautious tightening bias or a prolonged retention of the current tight monetary stance in order to contain inflation expectations, reinforce policy credibility and sustain investor confidence,” CPPE said
Warning
The CPPE warned that additional monetary tightening could significantly hurt the productive sector and undermine economic recovery.
“The Nigerian economy remains fragile and structurally constrained. Further tightening of monetary conditions could significantly weaken credit expansion, dampen investment appetite, and undermine the fragile momentum of the real-sector recovery.
“Excessively elevated interest rates also heighten the risks of loan defaults, weaken the financial sustainability of businesses, and exacerbate sovereign debt service pressures,” it said.
The think tank argued that Nigeria’s inflation challenge remains largely structural and supply-side driven, making aggressive monetary tightening less effective in addressing the root causes of inflation.
“It is equally important to recognise that the current inflationary pressures are predominantly cost-push and supply-side driven. The major inflation drivers remain energy costs, transportation expenses, logistics bottlenecks, and structural inefficiencies within the production environment.
“Monetary tightening is generally more effective in addressing demand-pull inflation arising from heightened aggregate demand and liquidity expansion. Its effectiveness in addressing supply-side inflation shocks is considerably more limited,” the group explained.
According to CPPE, further tightening under current economic conditions could raise the cost of capital, weaken manufacturing competitiveness, suppress SME growth, constrain household consumption, and slow investment expansion.
“Further tightening under prevailing conditions, therefore, risks imposing disproportionate costs on the productive sector without necessarily delivering commensurate gains in inflation moderation.
“Higher interest rates would increase the cost of capital, weaken manufacturing competitiveness, suppress SME growth, constrain household consumption, and slow investment expansion at a time when the economy urgently requires productivity-enhancing investments and job creation,” CPPE stated.
Advocacy
The think tank called for a balanced, carefully calibrated monetary policy framework that supports growth while maintaining macroeconomic stability and controlling inflation.
“The CPPE therefore advocates a carefully calibrated and balanced monetary policy stance that preserves macroeconomic stability while avoiding excessive tightening capable of undermining economic recovery and private sector resilience.
“The overarching policy priority should be to sustain investor confidence, support productive investments, stimulate output growth, and strengthen the economy’s supply-side capacity while maintaining vigilance on inflation management.”
READ ALSO: CPPE speaks on capital importation surge, raises structural concerns
The statement concluded that Nigeria’s long-term disinflation process would depend more on structural reforms and productivity improvements than on aggressive monetary tightening.
The group urged the monetary authorities to avoid excessive reliance on monetary policy orthodoxy in managing what is fundamentally a structurally-driven inflation environment.
“Sustainable disinflation in Nigeria will depend far more on improvements in productivity, energy security, logistics efficiency, exchange rate stability, domestic petroleum refining capacity, and overall supply-side reforms than on aggressive monetary tightening,” CPPE stated.
Composite insurance underwriter Lasaco Assurance has turned the corner on the N731.5 million half-year loss it logged in the first six months of last year, which heralded its first annual loss in thirteen years during the financial year 2025.
The insurer, in the last mile of a recapitalisation deadline in the Nigerian insurance industry that expires this month, recorded N384.9 million in the year to June, compared with a year ago, according to its latest corporate report published Friday.
Its return to profitability owed less to revenue growth than to cost-cutting. Insurance revenue, its core income source, retreated by 3.2 per cent from the half-year 2025 level to N16.3 billion.
That happened following a slide in the cash its general business insurance contract brings to the pool.
Lasaco Insurance cut back insurance service expenses by 17 per cent, and it also reduced net expenses from reinsurance contracts by 11.4 per cent; both were key factors that drove insurance service results to N3.1 billion from N1.1 billion a year ago.
Investment result was less impressive, dropping 13.4 per cent to N1.6 billion, owing to a decline in interest revenue calculated using the effective interest method.
The financial services company earned less in interest terms from fixed deposits and much less from bonds during the period.
It incurred a net foreign exchange loss of N67.9 million, compared with the N58.1 million gain recorded in the same period last year, hurting net investment results.
One other dark spot in the broadly strong result was a plunge in other operating income to N33.3 million from N246.1 million. Operating expenses, up by 9.2 per cent, rose to N4.2 billion from N3.8 billion.
Profit before tax stood at N436.2 million, compared to a pre-tax profit of N518.1 million one year prior, while post-tax profit came to N384.9 million, relative to a net loss of N731.5 million in the corresponding period of last year.
ALSO READ: Lasaco Assurance Plc appoints new managing director
Nigeria’s latest round of insurance industry recapitalisation, which concludes this month, requires life insurance businesses to scale up their minimum paid-up capital from N2 billion to N10 billion and non-life insurers from N3 billion to N15 billion.
Composite insurance firms have also been set a minimum threshold of N25 billion, up from N5 billion.
From its recently concluded rights issue, the underwriter raised N19.3 billion, which it said has passed capital verification with the National Insurance Commission and has received confirmation of admissibility from the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NGX Insurance Index, the equity index that tracks the performance of Nigeria’s most capitalised and liquid insurance stocks, has been up by 23.8 per cent since President Bola Tinubu signed the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act on 4th August 2025.
BY NKECHI BAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), on Friday debunked reports in the media allegedly issued by the management of Niger Insurance Plc, describing it as false, misleading and intended to deceive the public.
According to the commission,the report which was published by various media organizations lon July 15, 2026, misrepresented the legal status of Niger Insurance Plc, whose operating licence was revoked in 2022.
The commission disclosed this in a statement made aviation to BusinessTodayNG that it remains the only Federal Government agency established by law and vested with the exclusive statutory powers to license, regulate, and cancel the licence of any insurance institution in Nigeria.
It said due to the insolvent state of affairs of Niger Insurance and its persistent inability to pay verified insurance claims, NAICOM, in the exercise of its statutory mandate to protect policyholders, cancelled the its licence in 2022. Consequently, Otunba Sanya Ogunkuade, Esq. was appointed by NAICOM as the Receiver/Liquidator of the Company.
NAICOM added that “Following the cancellation of the licence, some former directors of the Company instituted a suit at the Federal High Court in 2022, purposely to challenge the cancellation of the Company’s licence and the appointment of the Receiver/Liquidator.
“The suit was struck out by the Federal High Court on 31 January 2023 on the grounds that the Plaintiffs lacked the power to institute the suit after the appointment of the Receiver/Liquidator, whose appointment had been duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
“The decision of the Federal High Court validated the cancellation of the Company’s licence and the appointment of the Receiver. An appeal by the Plaintiffs to the Court of Appeal by the Plaintiffs in the above suit was also struck out on 27th February 2025 by the Court of Appeal. A further appeal by the Plaintiffs to the Supreme Court is still pending
It added that an appeal against the judgment was also dismissed by the Court of Appeal on February 27, 2025, while a further appeal remains pending before the Supreme Court.
NAICOM noted that another suit filed by the same group of former directors resulted in a judgment delivered by the Federal High Court on June 5, 2026.
However, the Commission said the judgment is already being challenged at the Court of Appeal, where applications for a stay of execution have also been filed by both NAICOM and the Receiver/Liquidator.
The regulator maintained that the June 2026 judgment cannot override the earlier Court of Appeal decision, which upheld the cancellation of Niger Insurance’s licence.
The Commission also disclosed that some former directors whose names appeared as plaintiffs in the latest suit had written to disclaim any knowledge of the action, alleging that their names were used without their consent.
It further revealed that it has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over what it described as the unlawful activities of individuals allegedly parading themselves as the management of Niger Insurance Plc.
According to the Commission, the petition seeks to prevent attempts to interfere with or dispose of the company’s assets, which are meant to satisfy legitimate insurance claims and other obligations.
The Commission reiterated that Niger Insurance Plc remains prohibited from underwriting new insurance business and that its affairs continue to be managed exclusively by the Receiver/Liquidator.
The commission also advised the general public to distance themselves from any person or group of persons purporting to act for or on behalf of the Company, other than the lawfully appointed Receiver/Liquidator
While reassuring that the company’s licence remains revoked, its former board and management remain dissolved, and the Receiver/Liquidator will continue to administer the company’s assets pending the final winding-up of its affairs.
The post NAICOM Dismisses Niger Insurance Claims, Says Company’s Licence Remains Revoked appeared first on Business Today NG.
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