Economy
Nigeria Needs Clearer, More Liberal, Fiscal Policies—ICAEW
To attract more foreign investments into the Nigerian economy, the policy environment needs to be strengthened by the implementation of more liberal and clearer policies. This call was made by Cobus de Hart, Chief Economist for North and West Africa, Oxford Economics, who was a guest speaker at the ICAN/ICAEW Joint Economic Insight event held in Lagos on Friday, April 26, 2019.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Nigeria: The African Giant Crawling Back on its Own and its Untapped Technological Potential’, Hart stated that the Nigerian business environment is still seen as very unfriendly, especially since the wrong policies were implemented after the oil shock. He however noted that the economy has witnessed a progressive shift to non-oil outputs.
He said: “The non-oil sector is now the main driver of growth. The non-oil sector has expanded from 0.8% to 2.7%. That is actually progressive”, explaining that diversification can be accelerated with even more liberal policies.
Hart also said that the near-term outlook was encouraging with PMIs hinting at a solid start to 2019, FX risks which have eased off considerably and the loosening of the monetary policy.
According to him, despite the 2019 general elections, portfolio investor appetite is still strong, and this has prompted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to change policy direction.
Taking a cue from a 2017 World Bank report, Hart noted that Nigeria is still largely unbanked with only 39% of adults having accounts in financial institutions. Nevertheless, according to him, there is still a huge mobile money opportunity in Nigeria because of her population. Sadly, this is not the case with mobile penetration.
According to Hart: “As of 2017, Nigeria only had 39 mobile money accounts per 1,000 adults and saw only 447 mobile money transactions per 1,000 adults. In China, guess what the transactions figure was? 52,000! Despite such as a large market, Nigeria is lagging far behind its peers”
He affirmed that Sub-Saharan African countries in general have seen a sharp increase in mobile penetration, although East African countries like Kenya still take the lead.
With the rise of financial technology (Fintech), Hart believes that Nigeria is making progress in Fintech opportunities. “It is nice to see that Nigeria is making progress in Fintech. Last year, CBN launched the Payment Service Banks (PSB) licensing guidelines with the aim to increase financial inclusion. What this does now is that it allows telecommunication companies (telcos) to provide limited financial services like holding deposits, payments and remittances, issuing debit and prepaid cards. However, they are not allowed to give loans”, Hart added.
Also speaking at the event, Paul Aplin, President, ICAEW, said that you cannot have a strong economy without a strong national accounting profession. He also noted that no institute can help the economy alone, it has to be done in partnership with other institutes that have the same vision. This, he explained, was the value brought by the synergy between ICAN and ICAEW.
Also present at the event were: Alhaji Razak Jaiyeola, President, ICAN; Dr. Andrew Nevin, Chief Economist and Partner, PwC; Michael Armstrong, Regional Director for ICAEW in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia; Chris Nyong, Auditor-General of Cross-River State, as well as representatives from the ‘Big 4’ Accounting firms in Nigeria – KPMG, Ernst & Young, PwC and Deloitte, amongst others.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Nigeria slightly surpassed its quota set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in July 2026.
In the month under review, the country produced about 1.57 million barrels of crude oil per day.
It was the third consecutive month Africa’s largest oil-producing nation was meeting its monthly quota, set to stabilise the price of the commodity on the global market by the oil cartel.
Data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday showed that the 1.5 million barrels per day ceiling for Nigeria was surpassed last month.
The agency disclosed in a statement today that the country produced 1.505mbpd of crude oil and 0.17mbpd of condensate, bringing the combined daily production to 1.67mbpd.
In the month under review, the daily peak production of crude oil and condensate was 1.78mbpd, while the lowest daily production was 1.57mbpd.
Although Nigeria met its OPEC quota in the month of July, the statistics show that on a month-on-month basis, production fell by 4 per cent.
This was attributed to the decline in production due to operational challenges experienced at the Erha and Akpo fields, which impacted crude oil output during the period under review.
These disruptions constrained production volumes and contributed significantly to the overall reduction in national crude oil output.
Despite the challenges, production operations across most other producing assets remained relatively stable, with operators implementing measures aimed at maintaining production efficiency and minimising the impact of operational constraints, NUPRC stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The over 9 billion shares of Lasaco Assurance Plc issued to shareholders of the company via a rights issue have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The equities were brought to Customs Street on Wednesday by the organisation, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up share capital.
Lasaco Assurance, which scaled the recapitalisation hurdle of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in July 2026, raised fresh capital from the capital market to shore up its capital base.
The underwriting firm got about N18.5 billion from the rights issue, which involved the issuance of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares at a unit price of N2.00.
The exercise was on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
Confirming the listing of the additional stocks of Lasaco Assurance today, the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of NGX RegCo, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, announced in a circular that, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Lasaco Assurance Plc were today, Wednesday, August 12, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N2.00 per share on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
“With the listing of the additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up share capital of Lasaco Assurance Plc has now increased from 11,083,585,855 to 20,319,907,401 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has said the successful recapitalisation of the insurance industry will strengthen the sector’s ability to support financial stability and economic growth.
NIA Chairman, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, said a well-capitalised insurance industry would be better positioned to meet its obligations promptly, underwrite complex and large-scale risks and serve as a dependable pillar of the Nigerian economy.
She made the remarks while commending the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for its structured implementation of the new minimum capital requirements under the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.
Mrs Nwachukwu said NAICOM’s clear guidelines, systematic verification process, defined timelines and rigorous supervision had provided operators with a credible framework for navigating the recapitalisation exercise.
She described the outcome as a major milestone for the industry and congratulated the 43 insurance and reinsurance companies that have successfully met the prescribed minimum capital requirements.
According to her, the exercise represents “a major win not just for regulators and operators, but for policyholders, investors and the wider Nigerian economy.”
Mrs Nwachukwu said the association would continue to work with NAICOM and other stakeholders to consolidate the gains of the exercise, with emphasis on sustainable industry growth, stronger market conduct and improved consumer confidence.
The official also expressed solidarity with the eight companies still undergoing final verification and regulatory review, urging them to remain confident as NAICOM completes the process within the 14-day review period.
The NIA chairman assured policyholders and the wider business community that the insurance industry would emerge from the recapitalisation exercise stronger, more resilient and better positioned to contribute to Nigeria’s economic development.
