The National Insurance Commission has released new guidelines on the Minimum Capital Requirement for insurance and reinsurance companies in Nigeria, marking a major step toward implementing sweeping reforms in the industry.
The directive follows the passage of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025 and is aimed at facilitating the smooth and effective enforcement of the newly established capital thresholds for operators across the sector.
According to the NIIRA 2025, the minimum capital base for non-life insurers has been raised to N15 billion, while the capital requirement for life insurance firms is now at least N10 billion.
Reinsurance companies got the steepest increase, with their capital threshold now pegged at N35 billion.
In a circular on Monday, the commission’s Director of Supervision Directorate, Oluwatoyin Charles, said the framework is designed to strengthen the industry, enhance financial soundness, and ensure seamless implementation of the new capital thresholds.
NAICOM stressed that compliance with the NIIRA 2025 is mandatory and warned it would strictly enforce provisions of the law against any insurer or reinsurer in default.
NAICOM directed all insurers to submit their recapitalisation plans to the commission on or before September 30, 2025.
The commission said the submission must include a board resolution on compliance, capital status as at the 2024 audited financial statements and June 2025 second-quarter returns, a statement on statutory deposits with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and a detailed action plan on sources and timelines for fresh capital injection.
NAICOM also mandated firms to file monthly recapitalisation progress reports not later than 10 working days after each month-end.
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