Former Commissioner for Insurance Mohammed Kari has urged the Federal Government to resist political pressure in the ongoing insurance industry recapitalisation exercise, warning that preferential treatment for non-compliant operators could undermine confidence in Nigeria’s insurance market.
A former Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Alhaji Mohammed Kari, has called on the Federal Government to ensure a level playing field in the ongoing recapitalisation of Nigeria’s insurance industry.
Kari, who previously headed the former government-owned NICON Insurance Corporation and Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, made the call in an open letter to the Minister of Finance against the backdrop of the regulatory action involving the two companies.
He urged the Federal Government to allow NAICOM, as the statutory regulator of the insurance industry, to enforce applicable rules equally across the sector rather than provide special concessions to operators that have failed to meet regulatory requirements.
Kari specifically advised the government against granting special carve-outs or becoming an informal avenue of appeal for operators affected by regulatory decisions.
He argued that allowing NAICOM to apply the law consistently, regardless of ownership or historical status, would be critical to attracting investment and strengthening confidence in the sector.
“Honourable Minister, Nigeria’s insurance sector has enormous untapped potential, but it can only realise that potential if the government allows a level playing field to flourish,” Kari said.
He added that maintaining regulatory discipline would send a strong signal to local and international investors that Nigeria was committed to building a credible financial services industry.
“By upholding regulatory integrity and refusing to shield non-compliant operators, your ministry will demonstrate that Nigeria is serious about financial discipline, thereby building lasting global confidence in the Nigerian insurance sector,” he stated.
NICON, Nigeria Re licences at centre of dispute
Kari’s intervention follows a petition by the owners of NICON Insurance Ltd and Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation challenging the withdrawal of the companies’ operating licences over their inability to meet the prescribed minimum capital requirements.
The controversy escalated after the Finance Minister halted NAICOM’s move to appoint liquidators for the two companies.
But Kari maintained that the wider issue should be viewed within the context of the industry’s recapitalisation programme and the need for consistent enforcement of financial regulations.
Under a section of his letter titled “Equal Rules for a Maturing Industry,” the former commissioner said a financially stronger and self-reliant insurance market could only emerge when all operators were subjected to the same standards.
He cited the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 and NAICOM’s Minimum Capital Requirement Guidelines as the framework established to ensure that insurance operators have sufficient financial backing to protect policyholders.
“The central issue here is not whether statutory requirements feel inconvenient or demanding to any individual operator; financial regulations, by their very nature, impose rigorous demands. The fundamental question is simply this: are the rules applicable to everybody?” he asked.
‘Don’t punish those who complied’
Kari noted that more than 90 per cent of operators had followed the recapitalisation process by raising fresh capital, depositing required reserves with the Central Bank of Nigeria and undergoing regulatory verification, among other requirements.
According to him, these companies committed substantial financial resources to meeting the rules without seeking special exemptions.
He warned that giving preferential treatment to a few operators could disadvantage companies that had already complied with the recapitalisation requirements.
“In contrast, NICON and Nigeria Re continue to seek special dispensation through political channels, petitioning your ministry to suspend regulatory directives, capital checks, and escrow requirements,” he said.
Kari argued that allowing different regulatory standards for different operators would weaken the credibility of the entire recapitalisation exercise.
“When compliance is treated as mandatory for 90 percent of the market but optional for a selective few, the concept of statutory regulation collapses into favouritism,” he observed.
He further warned that permitting selected operators to operate under a separate set of rules could undermine fair competition and discourage investors who had committed capital in compliance with regulatory requirements.
Kari points to CBN, PenCom models
The former insurance commissioner also compared the situation in the insurance industry with recapitalisation exercises undertaken in other regulated financial sectors.
He argued that operators regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Pension Commission generally recognise statutory capital requirements as mandatory and do not seek political intervention to weaken the authority of their regulators.
“At no time do we witness such unhealthy behaviour in other regulated sub-sectors,” Kari said.
He argued that financial discipline should remain non-negotiable and that regulatory requirements should be enforced by the institutions legally empowered to do so.
“Those models are best for financial regulation, why then should insurance operators treat regulatory compliance as a matter open to political lobbying?” he queried.
Kari’s position places the principle of regulatory independence at the centre of the ongoing recapitalisation debate, with the outcome likely to have wider implications for competition, investor confidence and the credibility of Nigeria’s insurance sector.
