NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, yesterday led a high-level delegation of insurance industry leaders to Abia State as part of efforts to strengthen collaboration between the insurance sector and the state government.
The delegation paid a courtesy visit to Governor Alex Otti at the Government House in Umuahia to explore areas of partnership aimed at enhancing economic protection, risk management, and investor confidence.
During the engagement, Omosehin emphasized the critical role of insurance in safeguarding businesses, public assets, and livelihoods, noting that stronger cooperation between government and the insurance industry is essential for sustainable economic growth.
He also highlighted NAICOM’s ongoing reforms, including the establishment of the Insurance Policyholders’ Protection Fund (IPPF), designed to strengthen policyholder protection, promote prompt claims settlement, and reinforce public confidence in the insurance sector.
He explained that the Fund, created by NAICOM under the provisions of NIIRA 2025, is designed to protect policyholders by ensuring the prompt and equitable settlement of valid claims. According to him, the initiative will further strengthen consumer confidence and promote stability within the insurance market.
Governor Otti commended NAICOM for the progress recorded in the insurance sector and pledged the support of his administration toward building a sustainable partnership with industry stakeholders.
He noted that enhanced risk management, increased insurance awareness, and stronger consumer protection mechanisms would contribute significantly to economic resilience and growth in Abia State.
The delegation included the Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration, Mr. Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon, as well as presidents and senior executives of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Nigerian Insurers Association, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, and Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria.
Regency Alliance Insurance Signs Private Placement Agreement to Strengthen Capital Base
Regency Alliance Insurance Plc has signed a Private Placement Agreement as part of its recapitalisation programme aimed at strengthening its capital base and meeting the minimum paid-up share capital requirement set by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
The company disclosed that the agreement, signed on July 10, 2026, marks a significant milestone in its multi-phase capital raising programme approved by its Board of Directors.
The signing ceremony, held at the company’s headquarters in Lagos, was attended by members of the Board, management team, issuing houses, legal advisers, stockbrokers and other stakeholders.
Under the arrangement, Regency Alliance plans to raise capital through a private placement of 7.37 billion ordinary shares targeted at strategic investors.
According to the company, the capital injection will strengthen its solvency margin, enhance underwriting capacity, support business expansion and finance investments in technology, product innovation and customer experience.
Regency Alliance noted that the transaction also reflects the confidence of strategic investors in the company’s corporate governance, financial outlook and long-term growth strategy.
The insurer said the additional capital would position it to pursue new business opportunities, improve operational resilience, deepen market penetration and deliver sustainable value to shareholders, policyholders and other stakeholders.
The Board added that it remains committed to completing the capital raising exercise in an orderly and transparent manner while maintaining high standards of corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
A 38-year-old South African lady, Ms. Will Jessica Ann has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja after she was found to have concealed 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms in her luggage, using her three-year-old son as a cover to beat security checks and evade thorough screening.
The suspect was arrested by NDLEA officers on Monday 6th July 2026 during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja. Though she initially denied travelling with check-in bags, but after operatives were able to quickly establish that the two bags containing the drugs had tags which tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport, she recounted and admitted ownership of the bags adding that she forgot she checked in the two bags.
She claimed to have travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja. Intelligence leading to her arrests indicates she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organization along with her husband/partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia from where they operate their drug network along the Cambodian-South African axis.
In another successful interdiction operation, NDLEA officers at the terminal 2 arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos on 28th June 2026 intercepted a commercial motorcycle operator popularly known as ‘Okada rider’, 48-year-old Onyechere Daniel Chinadu following his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airways flight.
A thorough search of his back pack, which he had checked in, led to the discovery of 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed within cloths in his bag. In his statement, Onyechere claimed he has been working for 15 years as an Okada rider at Oke-Afo area of Lagos before his Uganda based friend recruited him into drug trafficking.
He said he ingested the recovered pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before embarking on his planned journey to Madagascar to deliver the drug consignment. He however said that upon arrival in Madagascar, he was denied entry by Immigration authorities. As a result, his friend and sponsor, Ozor Igo, based in Uganda rerouted his flight to Lagos, where he was eventually arrested by NDLEA officers.
The suspect was unable to state the exact number of pellets he had ingested in Uganda and as a result, he was placed under excretion observation for a period of three days. Between the date of his arrest and 1st of July, he was able to excrete 13 pellets in addition to the initial 87 wraps recovered from him, bringing the total number to 100 wraps of methamphetamine with a gross weight of 1.715 kilograms.
At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, a total of 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud weighing 4,143.5 kilograms worth over N10.3 billion in street value were discovered in a container imported from Canada during a joint examination of the shipment by NDLEA officers, Customs personnel and other security agencies on Friday 10th July 2026.
The discovery followed weeks of targeted tracking and monitoring of the shipment since its departure from Montreal, Canada, by operatives of the Maritime Intelligence Unit of NDLEA in close collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command of the Agency. Meanwhile, an attempt to export a 2.5kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, concealed in a gas compressor going to Cyprus through a courier company in Lagos has been thwarted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation(DOGI).
With the same zeal, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture for students and staff of Nnodo Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Government Girls Secondary School, Sabon Gida, Sharada, Kano; Royal Jesuit College, Agbado Ekiti; and Community Secondary School, Idofa, Ogun, while the leadership of Zone 14 Command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara at Government House Port Harcourt, among others.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, NAIA, MIU, and, Apapa Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitization activities while he charged them and their compatriots across the country not to rest on their past laurels.