Photo: Kofoshotit, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Life insurance in Nigeria
Licensed life insurers, group life and your rights
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Who can sell you life insurance
Life insurers confirmed by NAICOM as meeting the new minimum capital requirement (notices of 31 July and 13 August 2026), alphabetical: Capital Express Life Assurance, CHI Life Assurance, Coronation Life Assurance, Custodian Life Assurance, emPLE Life Assurance, Enterprise Life Assurance, Heirs Life Assurance, Mutual Benefits Life Assurance, Prudential Zenith Life Insurance, Sanlam-Allianz Life Insurance Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Insurance and Tangerine Life Insurance (NAICOM, NAICOM). The 8 composite insurers also write life business: see the full list.
The capital floors are ₦10 billion for life, ₦15 billion for non-life, ₦25 billion for composite and ₦35 billion for reinsurance companies (NAICOM circular of 12 August 2025).
The life market in figures
From NAICOM's Bulletin of the insurance market performance, Q2 2026: life business wrote ₦434.8 billion of the ₦1,285.2 billion gross premium (33.8%): individual life 43.4%, group life 27.5% and annuities 29.1% of it. Life insurers held ₦2,276.2 billion of assets.
Group life: compulsory for employers
Section 4(5) of the Pension Reform Act 2014: "every employer shall maintain a Group Life Insurance Policy in favour of each employee for a minimum of three times the annual total emolument of the employee" (NAICOM-PenCom guidelines). Details: group life insurance.
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Frequently asked questions
How many life insurance companies are there in Nigeria?
NAICOM's notices of 31 July and 13 August 2026 list 12 life insurers and 8 composite insurers (which also write life business) as compliant with the new minimum capital requirement.
Is life insurance compulsory in Nigeria?
Individual life cover is not. Group life cover is compulsory for employers: at least three times each employee's annual total emolument (Pension Reform Act 2014, s.4(5)).
Which life insurer is the best in Nigeria?
Tulinde does not rank insurers. Check that the insurer is on NAICOM's list, read the policy's benefits and exclusions and ask how claims are paid.
Sources
- NAICOM — Notice to the general public: insurance and reinsurance companies confirmed as compliant with the minimum capital requirements under NIIRA 2025 (31 July 2026)
- NAICOM — Notice to the general public: additional seven insurance companies confirmed as compliant with the minimum capital requirements under NIIRA 2025 (13 August 2026)
- NAICOM — Circular NAICOM/CFI/DCT/NIIRA2025-RECAP/001: implementation of the new minimum capital requirement prescribed by NIIRA 2025 (12 August 2025)
- NAICOM — Bulletin of the insurance market performance, second quarter 2026 (tables 1 and 5)
- NAICOM and PenCom — Revised Guidelines on Group Life Insurance Policy for Employees (1 September 2020; Pension Reform Act 2014, s.4(5))