The 52nd African Insurance Organisation (AIO) Conference and Annual General Assembly, held in Cairo, Egypt, has given a task to the Nigerian insurers: Tap Africa’s 500 million mobile subscribers and accelerate digital adoption to drive insurance penetration and premium growth.
The conference, as per the experts, has provided a clear roadmap for insurers seeking growth in a market long constrained by weak penetration, noting that the implementation of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 has created a regulatory environment that can support rapid expansion.
“The call came as the Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Omosehin, declared at the conference that Africa’s low insurance penetration should be viewed as a multi-billion-dollar growth opportunity rather than a market weakness, citing the continent’s existing premium pool of about USD 68 billion,” reported Nigerian daily The Guardian.
At the conference, insurance executives argued that the biggest challenge facing the industry operators was no longer product availability but distribution, warning that conventional agency networks would continue to leave millions of potential customers outside the insurance ecosystem.
According to industry estimates (discussed at the conference), Africa’s digital economy now includes more than 500 million mobile wallet users, offering insurers a ready-made platform to distribute retail products without worrying about the heavy costs associated with physical branch expansion.
The experts also urged Nigerian insurers to accelerate partnerships with telecom companies, fintech firms and digital payment providers to deliver insurance products through mobile applications, unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) channels and embedded financial services.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Insurers Association, Bola Odukale, told The Guardian that the Cairo conference reinforced the need for operators to rethink traditional distribution models and embrace technology-enabled channels that are capable of reaching millions of Nigerians currently facing exclusions, both from the African country’s financial framework and its insurance services.
According to Odukale, the insurance industry can no longer depend solely on conventional agency networks if it hopes to achieve meaningful penetration growth.
“The opportunities are enormous. What the Cairo conference has shown is that insurance penetration can improve significantly when operators leverage existing digital infrastructure and focus on solving customers’ real-life risks through accessible products,” she said.
While stating that innovation must be matched with capacity development and professional competence, President/Chairman of the Council of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Yetunde Ilori, said, “The increasing deployment of policies across digital platforms requires continuous training to ensure ethical standards, customer protection and sustainable growth.”