The Senate has approved legislation renaming the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC), arguing the old name no longer reflects how Nigeria’s insurance industry has evolved.
Lawmakers passed the National Insurance Regulatory Commission (Repeal & Enactment) Bill, 2026 (SB. 394) on Tuesday, after Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, chairman of the Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, presented the committee’s report. Abiru, who represents Lagos East under the APC, sponsored the bill alongside other committee members.
With the bill’s third reading and passage, NAICOM established under the National Insurance Commission Decree of 1997 officially becomes the IRC.
The law also shields the commission and its officials from legal claims arising from the lawful exercise of their duties.
Explaining the rationale, Abiru told the Senate that NAICOM’s founding law had grown outdated and could no longer keep up with the changing insurance industry, leaving gaps that needed fixing urgently.
Beyond the name change, the bill hands the commission more muscle. It’s designed to make the IRC more independent, letting it act without outside interference, while expanding its authority to share information and work with regulators both at home and abroad.
The commission will also gain stronger powers to issue directives and guidelines to industry stakeholders, and to step in when insurers run into financial trouble with the goal of protecting policyholders and keeping the sector stable during any wind-down of failing firms.
The legislation also tightens the rules around who can sit on the commission’s governing board, requiring members to have real expertise in insurance, risk management, finance, law, or corporate governance a move meant to keep unqualified appointees out of the decision-making process.
