“Without insurance, disasters push individuals, businesses, and governments into severe financial distress and trigger economic waste. With insurance, shocks become manageable and recovery becomes possible. This is why compulsory building insurance is not simply a regulatory requirement, it is a public safety intervention.”
This was one of the high stakes in the keynote address by the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Olusegun Omosehin, at the official launch of the Lagos State Building Insurance Scheme on Friday, 24 July, 2026, Applauding the Lagos move the CFI said, “The Lagos State Building Insurance Scheme therefore advances a broader national objective of ensuring that no Nigerian is left completely vulnerable when disaster strikes.”
The National Insurance Commission helmsman who was represented by Deputy Commissioner for Insurance, Finance and Administration, Mr. Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon, said what Lagos State has done is to take this national law and give it practical enforceable life at the level where buildings actually stand. This is precisely the partnership the Act envisaged between the federal regulator and the state governments.
He said the Lagos response is distinct because “it confronts the enforcement gap directly. By marrying geospatial building intelligence to a digital delivery platform and to systemic enforcement at state level, Lagos is not merely restating an obligation, it is building machinery to make the obligation real.”
“This is also fully aligned with the direction of NIIRA 2025, which deliberately promotes digital distribution, electronic policies and data driven supervision. Lagos has read the reform correctly and has moved first” he stated.
Addressing the ultimate beneficiary, the citizens, he made it clear, “If your building is covered and a fire sweeps through it, you will not begin again from nothing. If a structure collapses and an innocent person is injured, there will be a means of compensation rather than a funeral and a fight. If flood damages the premises in which you earn your living, recovery becomes a claim to be paid rather than a ruin to be endured. Insurance properly enforced, converts catastrophe into something a family and a community can survive. That is the whole of the matter.”
To the insurance industry Omosehin said it presents historic opportunity to cover vast class of insured risk, deepen penetration and expands the base on which underwriters can build. However, he reminded the market that the opportunity beckons unfailing obligation . “But let me be equally clear about the obligation, and let this be heard by every underwriter in this room. The confidence we build today will be won or lost at the point of claim. A scheme that collects premiums promptly but pays claims slowly will fail and it will deserve to fail. The Commission will hold operators to the standards the law demands fair terms, honest pricing, and prompt, full settlement of legitimate claims. Public confidence in insurance is not a slogan. It is earned one honoured claim at a time.”
To the Lagos State government the NAICOM Boss was clear, the scheme architecture should be open, transparent, competitive, and accessible to all duly Commission licenced insurers. “No compulsory insurance framework of this significance should be structured in a manner that excludes qualified licensed operators, creates undue monopoly, restricts fair market participation, or denies the insuring public the benefit of choice, capacity, innovation, and service competition. The role of the regulator is to protect the policyholder, preserve market integrity, and ensure that every operator who meets the Commission’s licensing, solvency, conduct, and claims-payment standards is given a fair opportunity to participate.”
