The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has queried the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) over the imposition of a one per cent Capital Injection Fee and other charges on insurance companies undergoing recapitalisation.
The query followed petitions by NICON Insurance Limited and Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation challenging the fees and NAICOM’s directive requiring insurers to transfer their entire capital injection funds into an escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a memo referenced F/LEG/0608/2026/22 and dated August 6, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Raymond Omachi, writing on behalf of the minister, directed NAICOM to provide a detailed response and legal justification for the disputed requirements.
The ministry also ordered the commission to suspend enforcement of the contested processing fees, the one per cent Capital Injection Fee and the directive requiring full escrow transfer of capital injection funds against NICON and Nigeria Re pending the determination of their petitions.
The two companies had challenged what they described as additional financial obligations imposed by NAICOM beyond statutory requirements.
They specifically questioned the one per cent Capital Injection Fee, as well as processing and verification fees contained in NAICOM’s Minimum Capital Requirement Guidelines. The charges amount to N305 million for NICON and N375 million for Nigeria Re.
The insurers also opposed NAICOM’s directive requiring existing and operational insurance companies to transfer their entire capital injection funds into an escrow account with the CBN.
They argued that Section 16(3) of the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 prescribes a statutory deposit of 10 per cent.
NICON and Nigeria Re said they had met the July 31, 2026 recapitalisation deadline by injecting N20 billion and N30 billion respectively into Mudaba Term Deposit Accounts with Lotus Bank Limited.
According to the companies, the amounts exceeded their adjusted recapitalisation requirements of N16 billion for NICON and N28 billion for Nigeria Re.
They further stated that they had each deposited N2.5 billion with the CBN pursuant to Section 16(3) of NIIRA 2025 and made initial fee payments of N80 million and N75 million respectively.
However, NAICOM maintained in its response that the disputed requirements were not new and had been communicated to insurers since last year.
“All these are requirements released since last year in the Guidelines which all the recapitalised 43 companies and the eight awaiting verification have complied with,” the commission said.
The development comes amid the Federal Government’s ongoing recapitalisation exercise for the insurance industry, which is aimed at strengthening the financial capacity and resilience of insurance companies.
