General
Fitch Assigns African Risk Capacity IFS ‘BBB+’ With Stable Outlook
By Adedapo Adesanya
Fitch Ratings has assigned African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd), the commercial subsidiary of the African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Group), an ‘Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating of ‘BBB+’ and a ‘Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook.
Announcing the rating on its official website, Fitch indicated that “the ratings reflect the commitment and credit quality of ARC’s sponsors, as well as the company’s good business profile, very strong capitalisation and leverage.”
Continuing, Fitch stated that, ARC Ltd.’s capital position is very strong, and a key strength for the rating level, adding that the company benefits from the treatment of the $67 million of Class C members’ returnable capital as Tier 1 capital under the Bermudan Solvency regime; and as equity capital under Fitch’s Prism Factor-Based Capital Model (Prism FBM).
As a result, ARC Ltd reported a Bermudan enhanced capital requirement (ECR) ratio of nearly 2500 per cent at March 31, 2020, while the company’s score on Fitch’s Prism FBM was “Extremely Strong” at end-2019.
Speaking on this development, the CEO ARC Ltd, Mr Lesley Ndlovu noted, “Obtaining an industry rating is an important enabler for our strategy to access new business by taking on inwards reinsurance, thereby allowing us to better meet the needs of countries by supporting national agricultural insurance schemes and providing capacity to local insurance companies.”
“Considering that this is the first time ARC Limited is being rated, we are gratified for being ranked among the top-notch insurance companies in Africa. With only one notch lower than Africa Re, we are encouraged more than ever to leverage our competitive edge towards becoming the best disaster risk insurer in Africa in the service of our Member States”, Mr Ndlovu concluded.
ARC Ltd is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the German Development Bank KfW. Fitch’s assessment of these funders’ willingness and ability to support ARC results in a one-notch uplift to its standalone credit profile.
In addition to their capital contributions, Fitch believes DFID and KfW provide support to the company that is positive to the credit rating through governance and strategic input, while also facilitating sovereign participation in the business through premium subsidy schemes.
Also sharing his satisfaction with the rating, Mr Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the Group Director-General, ARC Group, agreed that a BBB+ ranking of ARC Ltd, by an internationally acclaimed agency like Fitch, should boost the faith of ARC stakeholders in the viability of its model relative to meeting set obligations to the Member States.
“Our approach in providing sovereign disaster risk insurance coverage to African Union Member States is anchored on the mandate to ensure that vulnerable populations receive immediate support upon the trigger of the set parameters. Ultimately, we want to become the development insurer of choice for Africa offering multiple products; and a BBB+ by Fitch is a bold step in this quest”, said Mr Diong.
By Fitch’s assessment, ARC’s portfolio diversification is still limited as the company currently offers a single parametric insurance product covering drought risk. Geographic diversification is moderate with the 2019/20 risk pool (‘members’) covering only 11 African Union Member States out of a possible 34, with the number of members having been volatile in prior years. Fitch expects ARC’s business profile to improve through increased diversification as more countries sign up to the ARC project attracted by a broader range of products.
ARC was established to be managed on a commercial basis and achieve very modest profits, but this remains secondary to the company’s development goals. Fitch believes a degree of risk tolerance is inherent in the company’s underwriting practices as development goals are prioritised over underwriting margins.
The rating actions factored in Fitch’s current assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its economic impact, under a set of rating assumptions outlined on Fitch’s website. These assumptions were used by Fitch to develop Pro-forma financial metrics for ARC Ltd that are compared with rating guidelines defined in its criteria. Under the rating-case assumptions, ARC Ltd’s credit fundamentals remain good and commensurate with a ‘BBB+’ IFS Rating.
In just over 6 years of operations, 56 policies have been signed by the ARC Member States with $83 million paid in premiums for cumulative insurance coverage of $641 million and the protection of 64.1 million vulnerable population in participating countries.
From this, ARC Ltd made $60m payouts to the Governments of Senegal, Niger, Mauritania, Malawi, Cote D’Ivoire, the START Network and WFP following droughts episodes in 2014, 2015 and 2019. These funds have gone towards assisting over 2.5 million people whose livelihoods rely on agriculture, preventing the loss of hard-earned developmental gains in addition to 1 million.
Governments have used ARC Ltd insurance payouts to scale up cash transfers, subsidize livestock feeds, replenish depleted food reserves, and distribute emergency food supplies. Recently, in 2020, payouts of $2.13 million were made to the Republic of Madagascar to cover 600,000 vulnerable population; and $1.8m to the Government of Zimbabwe and WFP to support over 500,000 people affected by the drought.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A new branch of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Nigeria Chapter has been established in Oyo State, with Mr Adejumo Olusola Babatunde chosen as Coordinator.
The organisation set up an arm in the South-West state in a bid to expand its footprint in the country. Mr Babatunde will be assisted by other executive committee members, including Mr Ajiboye Olusola Akeem as Secretary, and Mrs Adeniran Olaide as Treasurer.
At the inauguration of the branch at the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Secretariat in the Akobo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the president of IFMA Nigeria, Mr Sheriff Daramola, expressed delight at the successful inauguration of the branch and commended members for their commitment to the growth of facility management in Nigeria.
He highlighted IFMA’s global heritage, noting that the association is supporting over 25,000 members in more than 140 countries worldwide. Mr Daramola emphasised IFMA’s strong global network, the world’s largest and most widely recognised association for facility management professionals, headquartered in the United States and its growing influence in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
“IFMA members have taken positions of authority across federal, state, and private institutions; IFMA Nigeria is positioned to ensure our professionals are the first choice for global investors entering the Nigerian market,” he stated.
The Legal Adviser of IFMA, Nigeria, Mr Sola Fatoki, who shared this sentiment, said, “Since 1997, when IFMA Nigeria was established, the association has equipped facility management professionals with integrated knowledge spanning human behaviour, infrastructure, and the built environment.”
He encouraged engineers, architects, surveyors, ITC, Technology innovators, data analysts and allied professionals to see IFMA as their professional home and outlined the functions and responsibilities of branch executive committees.
In his remarks, Mr Babatunde expressed gratitude to the national council for the opportunity to serve and pledged to ensure the success of the branch, focusing on unity and the professional advancement of stakeholders in the region.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has denied reports that some disputed crude oil and gas wells have been recommended for ceding to specific oil-producing states.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the chairman of the commission, Mr Mohammed Shehu, said the attention of RMAFC had been drawn to a “purported report allegedly issued by the Inter-Agency Committee on the Verification of Coordinates of Disputed Crude Oil and Gas Wells between States,” which was circulating in sections of the national media (excluding Business Post).
The agency described the report as “misleading, premature, and does not represent the position or conclusions of the Commission.”
“At this stage, there is no finalised recommendation or decision regarding the ceding or reallocation of any oil wells, as due institutional processes are still ongoing,” the statement read.
The organisation explained that it operates a clearly defined and transparent procedure in handling assignments of national significance, stressing that the process on the disputed oil wells had not been concluded.
It disclosed that it only received a draft report from the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Committee on Nigeria’s Oil-Producing States on Friday, February 13, 2026, which reportedly projected Cross River State as an oil-producing state.
The report, covering the nationwide 2017–2025 verification of crude oil and gas coordinates, was presented to the Chairman of RMAFC by 10 of the 14 members of the committee.
The exercise, which ran from August 2025 to February 2026, involved extensive field verification, technical reconciliation of state submissions, and a final plenary plotting of coordinates at RMAFC headquarters between January 24 and 31, 2026.
“Consistent with established protocol, the draft document has been transmitted to relevant technical and statutory stakeholders, namely the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the National Boundary Commission, and the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, for detailed review, observations, and technical input,” the commission stated.
According to the statement, after the observations and recommendations of the agencies are received, the matter will be subjected to further scrutiny by the commission’s internal tripartite committees, comprising the Committee on Crude Oil, Gas and Investment and the Legal Matters Committee.
“These committees will undertake comprehensive technical and legal reviews before presenting their findings to the Plenary Session of RMAFC for deliberation and final recommendations,” it added.
The commission further explained that upon completion of the institutional processes, its final report would be formally transmitted to the President and the Attorney-General of the Federation for necessary consideration and further action in line with applicable laws and constitutional provisions.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, suffered an outage globally on Monday as millions of users could not use the service.
The widespread outages have been reported by thousands of users across several countries, including Nigeria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and India, among others.
According to data from Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions based on user reports, complaints about access to X started to pick up around 1:00 p.m. local time in Nigeria.
The cause of the outage was not immediately clear, and X has not put out any comment, but users told Business Post that the platform is not loading or cannot be reached, and the pattern of complaints suggests the issue is not limited to a single region.
Its developer platform status page stated “all systems are operational” all morning despite the reports.
The outage is the latest to hit internet services. X suffered a similar outage in March 2025, while a Cloudflare service outage caused access problems and downtime for various websites, including X, last November.
Microsoft’s Azure had also faced an issue last year, while disruption at Amazon AWS caused global turmoil among thousands of websites and some of the most popular apps, such as Snapchat and Reddit in October
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