Business
Insurance Week 2.0: Stop Selling Obsolete Products, NAICOM Warns Operators
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has challenged Nigerian insurance operators to radically overhaul their business models by transitioning from product-centric marketing to a customer-centric approach.
The regulator warned that the long-standing industry habit of “selling what has been produced, rather than producing what can be sold” must change if the sector hopes to bridge the persistent public trust gap.
The call was made by the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Segun Omosehin, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance (Finance and Administration), Mr. Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon, during the flag-off of the 2026 Insurance Week.
Omosehin emphasized that public awareness and trust are no longer peripheral regulatory duties but core strategic priorities necessary to unlock sustainable economic growth.
Addressing industry executives, Omosehin noted that despite the critical role insurance plays in risk management, public understanding remains low. He urged operators to move away from generic messaging and embrace localized, highly relatable communication.
“It is not enough for people to simply know that insurance exists,” Omosehin stated. “They must understand how it works, why it matters, and how it can protect their lives, assets, and aspirations. We must communicate in languages people understand and through platforms they trust.”
The Commissioner pointed directly to claims settlement as the ultimate litmus test for the industry’s credibility, describing it as the “moment of truth.”
“Delays, ambiguities, or perceived unfairness in claims settlement do not just erode trust in one company—they weaken confidence in the entire system,” he warned, urging operators to simplify documentation and create transparent timelines for policyholders.
Highlighting recent legislative achievements, the NAICOM chief described the passage of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 as a defining milestone that establishes a robust safety net for consumers.
Key structural transformations introduced under NIIRA 2025 include:
Policyholders’ Protection Fund to safeguard consumers even in cases of insurer insolvency.
• Stronger Capital Requirements: Re-architecting the financial resilience and supervisory frameworks of operating firms.
• Strategic Economic Alignment: Mandating deliberate insurance support for critical national sectors, including infrastructure development, agriculture, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
However, Omosehin cautioned that legislation alone cannot guarantee success. “The true impact of NIIRA 2025 will depend on how effectively we implement its provisions. Compliance should be seen not as a burdensome obligation, but as an opportunity to elevate standards.”
Driving Inclusive Insurtech Innovation
Turning to technology, the Commissioner acknowledged that digital platforms, data analytics, and Insurtech innovations offer unprecedented opportunities to streamline onboarding, quicken claims management, and bridge geographical gaps.
He nonetheless urged operators to deploy tech responsibly, ensuring that cybersecurity and data privacy remain paramount. He stressed that innovation must be inclusive, intentionally drawing in rural communities and informal sector participants rather than isolating them.
Concluding his address, Omosehin declared that the Nigerian insurance sector stands at a historic crossroads, requiring practitioners to break the silence that has historically hindered industry penetration.
“Trust is not built overnight; it is earned through consistent actions, dependable service, and unwavering integrity,” Omosehin said.
“Let us seize the opportunities presented by ongoing reforms, sustain the momentum, and work together to create an insurance sector that is inclusive, innovative, and globally competitive.”
The post Insurance Week 2.0: Stop Selling Obsolete Products, NAICOM Warns Operators appeared first on Business Today NG.
The executive secretary of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell, told the ministers at COP31 that climate finance must be redesigned to lift developing countries out of a cycle of debt and disaster, adding that meeting a headline figure will not do it.
“Meeting a financial target does not always meet countries’ needs. To do that, we need to look at how finance is delivered,” Mr Stiell said on Friday at the opening of a high-level ministerial dialogue on climate finance in Antalya, Turkey.
Countries agreed at COP29 that developed nations would lead in providing $300 billion a year by 2035, as part of a wider effort to raise $1.3 trillion annually from all sources.
Mr Stiell said the roadmap for reaching those sums “must become reality”, but that the terms of the money mattered as much as the amount.
“Many developing countries are trapped in a downward loop of debt, disaster, and devastating capital costs,” he said. “The threat of floods, fires, storms and droughts hangs over them, pushing up the price of borrowing even before disaster strikes.”
He stated that the terms of finance should reflect each country’s debt position.
“Private finance, loans and guarantees are essential to achieving our collective goals. But grant-based and highly concessional finance will remain critical, particularly for Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and other very vulnerable economies,” he said.
According to him, broader action on debt is also needed to prevent countries from being forced to choose between repayments and resilience.
International climate finance for developing countries reached about $137 billion in 2024, and almost 70 per cent of it came in the form of loans, according to a UN Women flagship report released on Tuesday in Antalya.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa paid more than twice as much in external debt service between 2021 and 2023 as they received in climate finance, according to an analysis published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
The analysis found that interest payments consumed more than 10 per cent of government revenue in 27 African countries in 2024.
The chair of the African Group of Negotiators, Nana Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, has said that a transition could not be called just if poorer countries have to “mortgage their futures” to pay for it.
The group lost a bid on Monday for a separate agenda item on tripling adaptation finance. It now wants the target prioritised in the summit’s cover decision.
Nigeria is not on the UN’s list of least developed countries, which places it among the states the UN climate chief expects to rely more on loans, guarantees and private capital.
It needs about $337 billion between 2026 and 2035 to implement its climate commitments, according to the National Council on Climate Change.
Omotenioye Majekodunmi, the agency’s director-general, said more than 80 per cent of that will have to come from private investment, commercial debt, and international carbon finance.
About $2.5 billion a year went to climate action in Nigeria in 2021 and 2022, counting domestic and international sources, according to the Climate Policy Initiative’s tracking.
The dialogue was the last in a series that began in 2013, and its conclusions will go to COP32 in Ethiopia next year, Mr Stiell said.
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