Business
NEM Insurance Staff Oduh Sunday Clinches 2026/2027 CIIN Ambassador Title
From right: Winner and New 2026 CIIN Ambassador, Mr. Oduh Sunday; 2nd Runners-up, Ms. Odeniyan Oluwatosin Comfort and 1st Runners-up of the Ambassador Contest, Mr. Okunnu Abdulrasheed Adekunle at the Year 2026 CIIN Insurance Week Grand Finale in Lagos yesterday.
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—Oduh Sunday of NEM Insurance Plc, yesterday emerged victorious in the 2026/2027 Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria Ambassador Competition, receiving a cash reward of N1.5 million and earning the title of the insurance industry’s newest ambassador.
The competition formed part of the major attractions at the grand finale of the CIIN Insurance Week and also represented one of the final official engagements of the institute’s current president, Yetunde Ilori.
Mr. Eddie Efekoha; Mr. Edwin Igbiti and Mrs. Yetunde Ilori.
Held from Friday, May 15 to Friday, May 22, 2026, the CIIN Insurance Week 2026 featured an extensive eight-day schedule focused on public interaction, professional discussions, learning activities, and celebrations within the insurance sector.
The Ambassador Competition evaluated contestants based on their understanding of the insurance profession as well as their capacity to carry out awareness initiatives.
Noor Takaful Insurance Limited staff, Okunnu Abdulrasheed Adekunle secured the first runner-up position and received N1 million, while another staff member of the same company, Ms. Odeniyan Oluwatosin Comfort, claimed the second runner-up spot with a cash award of N750,000.
In additional award categories presented during the event, the Police Service Commission was recognised as the Best Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA). Akunyili Samuel Chukwukadibia was honoured as the Best Insurance Student in the WAEC examination.
The award-winning student’s teacher, Mr. Awotoruvie Randy Kemi, also received recognition, while six secondary schools with outstanding student enrollment in insurance studies were celebrated.
The schools honoured included Ijaiye Ojokoro Senior High School, Badagry Senior Grammar School, Saint Peter’s College, Egba High School, Methodist Comprehensive College, and Ebenezer Grammar School.
Ogun State also received recognition as the state with the highest number of students enrolled for insurance studies in WAEC examinations.
Earlier in the programme, the InsurScenario Team emerged as champions of the 2026 CIIN InsurQuest Hackathon, defeating other competing teams including CoverBot, Mediclaim AI, Team Topsborg, Team Nexus, and The Risk Architects.
Now in its second edition, the hackathon attracted a broader mix of young innovators from across Nigeria and was designed to strengthen youth participation in the insurance sector while encouraging future insurance innovators.
The initiative exposed participants to practical industry problems and demonstrated how insurance can drive innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, and social impact. Over several weeks, contestants participated in masterclasses, hands-on workshops, and mentoring sessions aimed at building technology-based solutions for challenges affecting Nigeria’s insurance industry.
Supported by experienced professionals, the teams explored areas such as Inclusive Insurance, Data and Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience, as well as ESG and Sustainability, while developing working prototypes suitable for pilot implementation.
All teams presented their projects during the InsurQuest Demo Day held on May 21, 2026, at the College of Insurance and Financial Management, where the InsurScenario Team finished in first place.
Speaking during the grand finale and award presentation, CIIN president Yetunde Ilori described the programme as her final appearance at the event in her capacity as president. She explained that the Insurance Week was created to bring together all segments of the insurance industry, improve public participation, encourage professional conversations, and promote insurance education and awareness.
According to her, the event, now in its second year, has become one of the strongest collective initiatives by Nigeria’s insurance industry to improve public understanding, boost insurance adoption, and recognise excellence within the sector.
She urged her successor to sustain and build upon the initiative, expressing confidence that the annual programme could further strengthen insurance acceptance and operations in Nigeria, with the aim of increasing industry penetration beyond one percent in the near future.
The post NEM Insurance Staff Oduh Sunday Clinches 2026/2027 CIIN Ambassador Title appeared first on Business Today NG.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has attained trillionaire status after SpaceX, the rocket, AI and satellite communications company established by him, turned a soaraway success on its first trading day, surging 20 per cent to $2.1 trillion in valuation.
SpaceX’s shares closed at $161 on the Nasdaq on Friday, compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price of $135, making it the biggest-ever stock market debut.
The IPO had earlier raised $75 billion from investors and the underwriters of the transaction before the listing.
“Liftoff! First $SPCX trade complete,” Space X wrote on X (formerly Twitter), which Mr Musk also owns.
The 54-year old now has a total net worth of $1.1 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with its stake in SpaceX standing at 42 per cent or $767.1 billion as of Friday.
SpaceX debuted with a valuation of around $1.8 trillion. Its valuation at the end of Friday’s trade makes it the sixth-largest publicly traded company in the United States.
Trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX,” SpaceX began trading shortly before noon, attracting strong investor demand.
The listing places SpaceX among the world’s most valuable companies, despite the firm reporting a loss of nearly $5 billion last year and generating significantly less revenue than many technology giants with comparable valuations.
“I gave SpaceX a 10 per cent chance of succeeding at all,” Mr Musk said shortly before the company was listed.
SpaceX, since its establishment in 2002, has evolved from an experimental rocket startup into a dominant player in aerospace, satellite communications, and AI-related infrastructure.
READ ALSO: Elon Musk announces formation of American Party
Starlink, its satellite internet business, has expanded SpaceX beyond rocket manufacturing into a broader technology and connectivity platform.
Mr Musk, who now controls several companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and X, began building his wealth by co-founding Zip2 and PayPal.
After completing the acquisition of X in October 2022 in a deal worth $44 billion, Mr Musk introduced monetisation features on the platform, which contributed to the growth of his business empire.
After selling Zip2 and later PayPal, he reinvested much of his earnings into Tesla, SpaceX, and other ventures.
Mr Musk’s wealth is now nearly equivalent to the entire economic output of Switzerland or Poland.
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has received a four-member delegation from Kenya’s Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) for a four-day technical study visit in Abuja, solidifying Nigeria’s position as a leading reference point for pension reform and regulatory innovation across the African continent.
The Kenyan delegation, led by John Keah, Director of Market Conduct and Industry Development at the RBA, is visiting Nigeria from June 8 to 11, 2026, to understudy PenCom’s regulatory and supervisory frameworks.
Keah noted that the engagement highlights the critical role of cross-border learning among African regulators aiming to optimize retirement systems and improve pension outcomes for citizens. He added that structural similarities between the two nations’ pension landscapes make Nigeria’s journey highly relevant to Kenya’s ongoing domestic reforms.
The RBA delegation is focusing its study on PenCom’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, its risk-based supervision framework, and its strategies for expanding pension coverage to both the informal sector and the diaspora.
Keah particularly lauded the governance safeguards within Nigeria’s pension system and described the Diaspora Pension Arrangement as an innovative milestone capable of reducing old-age poverty and enhancing long-term retirement security.
Welcoming the delegation, the Director General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, reiterated Nigeria’s dedication to regional collaboration and knowledge exchange. Represented by the Director of the Surveillance Department, Abdulrahaman Muhammad Saleem, the Director General revealed that pension assets under management in Nigeria have grown to over ₦32 trillion, representing approximately 10.4 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This growth, she noted, stems from continuous regulatory reforms, heightened governance standards, and rigorous supervisory mechanisms established since the inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004.
Ms. Oloworaran also highlighted the Federal Government’s recent settlement of outstanding accrued pension rights liabilities as a historic turning point for the CPS.
The intervention, executed through the issuance of a Federal Government bond, effectively resolved a prolonged funding backlog that had previously delayed retirement benefits for public sector employees within Treasury-Funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Under the new framework, accrued rights are transferred directly into retirees’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs), granting immediate access to investment returns and eliminating lengthy waiting periods.
The technical visit, anchored on the theme “Risk-Based Supervision and ESG Integration in Pension Funds,” includes interactive departmental presentations, study tours to selected Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and collaborative sessions on emerging risks.
Both regulatory bodies expect the engagement to deepen bilateral cooperation and foster resilient, inclusive, and sustainable pension architectures across East and West Africa.
The post Nigeria’s Pension Assets Top ₦32tn as Kenyan Regulator Understudies Reforms appeared first on Business Today NG.
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