INTRODUCTION
This article highlights some key reforms introduced by the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025 (NIIRA 2025), which has repealed the Insurance Act 2003 (IA 2023). It is the second in the series of articles exclusively focused on NIIRA 2025.
CLASSIFICATION OF INSURANCE
NIIRA 2025 has introduced a comprehensive reclassification of insurance categories and classes in Nigeria:
• It has redefined the categories of insurance from life and general insurance to life and non-life
insurance.
• It has introduced annuity as a new class under the life assurance business.
• It has modified the classes of non-life insurance as follows:
o It has reclassified oil and gas insurance as energy insurance, covering oil, gas, and power.
o It has added agricultural insurance as a distinct class of non-life insurance.
• It has removed miscellaneous insurance from the non-life category and reintroduced it under a new
category titled other classes.
POWER TO EXPAND OR RECLASSIFY INSURANCE BUSINESS
NIIRA 2025 has granted the National Insurance Commission (the “Commission”) the authority to classify insurance business and publish any additional list of classes in the Federal Government Gazette.
