Lagos State Government has officially launched a compulsory Building Insurance Scheme, with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) pledging full regulatory backing while warning insurers that public trust “will be won or lost at the point of claim.”
Speaking at the launch on Friday in Lagos, NAICOM Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, Mr Ayo Omosehin, describing it as a landmark step in protecting citizens from the devastating consequences of fire, flood and building collapse risks he said had cost Lagos and other states “the cost of building collapse in human lives” in recent weeks.
The Scheme combines geospatial building intelligence with a digital delivery platform and systematic enforcement, aiming to close a long-standing gap between Nigeria’s insurance laws and their actual enforcement.
Omosehin said Lagos State was the first to state to have fully operationalise provisions under the Nigerian Insurance Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, which strengthened underwriters’ capital base and gave NAICOM clearer enforcement powers over compulsory insurance.
Under the law, public buildings and buildings under construction above a prescribed height must carry cover protecting not just owners, but occupiers, visitors, and passerby.
Omosehim was direct about the stakes for the insurance industry itself. “A scheme that collects premiums promptly but pays claims slowly will fail, and it will deserve to fail,” he said, pledging that NAICOM would hold operators to standards of fair pricing and prompt settlement.
He also reassured the wider market that the Scheme would not favour a select few. NAICOM, he said, would “insist upon a scheme architecture that is open, transparent, competitive, and accessible to all insurance operators” licensed by the Commission, rejecting any structure that creates undue monopoly or denies the insuring public the benefit choice.
The Commission made four commitments: to ensure only NAICOM-licensed insurers underwrite policies under the Scheme; to help Lagos combat fake certificates and unlicensed operators; to guarantee open market participation for all qualified insurers; and position Lagos’ model as a template other states can replicate.
The launch was attended by representatives of Lagos State Government, including the Office of the Special Adviser on e-GIS and Urban Development, under the leadership of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
