Joy Agwunobi

Insurance leaders and stakeholders from across West Africa will converge in Lagos, Nigeria, this October for the 2025 Education Conference of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA), a high-level forum set to focus on how the region’s insurance sector can respond to the growing threat of climate change.

The event, organised by the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) on behalf of Nigeria’s insurance market, will attract delegates from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, and other countries in the sub-region.

With the theme “The West African Insurer in the Face of Climate Change”, the WAICA conference will examine the critical role insurers play in safeguarding households, businesses, and national economies against escalating climate-related risks such as floods, droughts, and extreme weather events.

In a statement, Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, Chairperson of the Local Organising Committee, described the gathering as a landmark opportunity to strengthen regional cooperation and equip insurers with the tools and strategies needed to manage the evolving climate landscape.

According to her, discussions at the WAICA conference will span a wide range of issues central to building climate resilience within the region’s insurance sector. These include the development of insurance models tailored to West Africa’s unique climate risks, the strengthening of regulatory frameworks that support both innovation and sustainability, and the adoption of digital claims processing alongside other technology-driven solutions that can improve efficiency and responsiveness.

She further noted that the agenda will also spotlight green underwriting practices, such as premium discounts for low-carbon assets, while exploring the creation of government-backed reinsurance pools designed to cushion the impact of climate shocks. Equally important, the conference will emphasise the role of public-private partnerships in scaling solutions that ensure insurance can act as a reliable buffer for communities and businesses most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Nwachukwu noted that beyond product design and regulation, the conference will explore how West African insurers can align their activities with international climate commitments such as the Paris Agreement, while also ensuring that insurance serves as a buffer for vulnerable communities most exposed to climate risks.

She added that delegates will have the opportunity to draw insights from best practices across Anglophone West Africa and engage directly with leaders shaping a more climate-aware insurance industry in the region.

The conference will also feature a strong lineup of speakers. Confirmed participants include Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), who will deliver the keynote address. Other expected speakers are Bockarie Kaloko, Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Finance; Wole Oshin, Group Managing Director of Custodian Investment Plc; and Abiba Zakariah, Ghana’s Acting Commissioner of Insurance.

In addition, regulators, government officials, senior industry professionals, and representatives of development agencies will be in attendance, underscoring the cross-sectoral importance of building a climate-resilient insurance framework for West Africa.

Nigeria eyes pension reform to channel $17bn assets into infrastructure,equity

Nigeria is preparing to overhaul its pension investment regulations, a move that could unlock a larger share of the country’s $17 billion pension assets for deployment into infrastructure and private equity. 

The reforms, currently in their final review stages, are aimed at boosting long-term returns for retirees while channeling capital into sectors critical for national development.

Ibrahim Buwai, spokesman for the National Pension Commission (PenCom), confirmed that the Commission is reviewing the existing rule that caps pension fund exposure to alternative assets such as infrastructure and private equity at 5 percent. Although exact figures have not yet been disclosed, Buwai said the revised limits are expected to be announced before the end of the current quarter.

Beyond raising the investment ceiling, PenCom is also set to “significantly” relax a key regulation requiring infrastructure funds to allocate at least 60 percent of their portfolios to projects domiciled in Nigeria. Regulators believe that loosening this restriction will broaden the pool of eligible assets, expand diversification opportunities for pension fund administrators, and strengthen portfolio resilience.

The policy rethink comes against a backdrop of growing agitation from pension fund managers, who have argued that Nigeria’s current framework leaves them too dependent on traditional fixed-income instruments. At present, fixed-income securities account for 62 percent of total pension fund assets. However, the combination of double-digit inflation—persistently above 20 percent for the past two years—and a roughly 70 percent depreciation of the naira against the U.S. dollar has significantly eroded real returns.

“We are not really okay with returns the way they are because inflation is having significant negative impact,” Buwai said. “We really want to see traction in those alternative assets to complement returns from the fixed income and the traditional assets.”

In April, Omolola Oloworaran, director general of PenCom, had underscored the strategic role of pension assets in Nigeria’s economic transformation. She disclosed that pension funds had already channeled N5.51 trillion into infrastructure, private equity, real estate, and subnational initiatives, illustrating the sector’s growing influence in shaping development outcomes.

Oloworaran also highlighted the industry’s strong performance, reporting that the Net Asset Value (NAV) of pension funds surged by 22.65 percent year-on-year, climbing from N18.36 trillion in December 2023 to N22.51 trillion by December 2024. The growth, she explained, was driven by steady contributions and rising investment income.

Despite this progress, she pointed to a critical structural bottleneck: the limited availability of investable instruments that satisfy regulatory standards for liquidity and free float. With only 86 instruments currently meeting the criteria, the market remains constrained, limiting the capacity of pension funds to diversify meaningfully.