By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has inaugurated its 2025 Innovation Lab, a facility designed to accelerate digital solutions and reshape insurance practice in the country.

Speaking at the launch on Monday in Lagos, NIA Chairman, Mr Kunle Ahmed, said the initiative marked a milestone in repositioning the industry for a technology-driven future.

Mr Ahmed recalled that at his inauguration in October 2024, he emphasised the need for insurers to embrace digital innovations and pledged to establish an innovation challenge to foster new solutions.

“Today, we are not just opening a facility, we are igniting a movement, rooted in innovation, driven by collaboration, and destined to transform the way we protect lives, assets, and futures,” he said.

Mr Ahmed explained that the lab would serve as a hub where ideas would be nurtured, technologies tested, and scalable solutions developed for the Nigerian market.

According to him, the youthful demographics of Nigeria, with a median age of 18 years, make it imperative for insurers to adopt digital platforms, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data analytics.

He said this was needed to improve efficiency, expand access, and deepen trust.

“Innovation is not a luxury. It is a necessity. The future of our industry depends on agility, inclusiveness, and digital empowerment,” he said.

Mr Ahmed urged regulators, technology partners, and member companies to collaborate with the association in making the innovation lab a success.

He described the lab as a symbol of unity of purpose and diversity of thought, adding that it would serve as a platform for continuous learning and adaptation in a rapidly changing world.

“To our innovators, this is your launchpad, your opportunity to shape the future.

“To our member companies, invest in this future. And to every Nigerian, believe in the power of innovation to protect assets and sustain standards of living,” he said.

On his part, Mr Babatunde Fajemirokun, who chairs NIA’s Advisory Committee on Digital Innovation and IT, presented insights from the survey earlier conducted which informed on the challenging areas to wade into.

The survey, which engaged 45 senior leaders including 22 Chief Executive Officers, 10 Chief Technology Officers, and 13 heads of strategy across life, general, and micro-insurance, revealed areas where the industry must channel its focus.

“The data reveal a sector ready to embrace innovation, with 87 per cent of executives expressing willingness to collaborate on shared solutions and 69 per cent confirming readiness to commit resources in 2025.

“Customer experience, acquisition, KYC, and distribution rank as the top priorities for innovation.

“Fraud management, eKYC, and claims exchange emerged as the most promising areas for industry-wide collaboration,” he said.

By Adedapo Adesanya

For the second consecutive month, Nigeria maintained its crude production quota of 1.5 million barrels per day in July 2025.

According to the August 2025 Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) released by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria was able to sustain its crude oil production for two months straight.

As part of efforts to avoid oil glut, which refers to having too much oil supply in the global market, and keep prices stable to help economies grow, OPEC provided every member country with a production cap.

For Nigeria, it has not been able to reach the level in recent times until January 2025, when it recorded the highest output of 1.54 million barrels per day.

However, it dropped below the 1.5 million barrels daily mark in February until May.

Momentum picked up again when the country’s average daily oil production rose to 1.505 million barrels per day in June.

It has now sustained this again with data showing Nigeria produced 1.507 million barrels per day in July.

Prior to this, production averaged 1.453 million barrels per day in May.

Crude production dropped to 1.46  million barrels per day in February, 1.40 million barrels per day in March, 1.48 million barrels per day in April and 1.45 million barrels per day in May.

Nigeria is actively boosting crude oil production by reactivating dormant fields, fast-tracking regulatory approvals, and enhancing operational efficiencies across the upstream value chain.

With the country’s production picking up, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr Bashir Bayo Ojulari, noted that this could lead to country to ask for a higher output benchmark from OPEC.

Oil accounts for over 60 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign earnings and a higher output quota will help boost the country’s foreign reserves and reduce the need to borrow to fund the N54 trillion budget for 2025.

Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange further depreciated by 1.84 per cent in the 33rd trading week of 2025 despite the addition of MRS Oil Nigeria Plc in the week, though it boosted the market capitalisation of the platform.

In the week, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) went down by 67.34 point to 3,587.76 points from the 3,655.10 points recorded in the previous week, while the market capitalisation went up by N6.14 billion to N2.146 trillion from N2.140 trillion in Week 32.

Business Post reports that the bourse ended the week with seven price gainers and six price losers led by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which  declined by 18.09 per cent to N43.82 per share from N53.50 per share.

Further, Okitipupa Plc, which declined by 5.37 per cent to N224.56 per share from N237.24 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost 7.33 per cent to N64.51 per unit from N69.61 per unit, NASD Plc depreciated by 2.32 per cent to N29.50 per unit from N30.20 per unit, Mixta Real Estate Plc dropped 8.91 per cent to N5.52 per share from N6.06 per share, and Geo-Fluids Plc fell by 1.00 per cent to N4.95 per unit from N5.00 per unit.

On the flip side, 11 Plc gained 9.49 per cent to N250.84 per share from N229.10 per share, Afriland Properties Plc improved by 7.14 per cent to N21.00 per unit from N19.60 per unit, Food Concepts Plc appreciated by 6.21 per cent to N3.42 per share from N3.22 per share, UBN Property Plc rose by 5.00 per cent to N2.10 per unit from N2.00 per unit, Acorn Petroleum Plc expanded by 9.24 per cent to N1.30 per share from N1.19 per share, First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc increased by 1.61 per cent to 63 Kobo per unit from 62 Kobo per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc grew by 32.59 per cent to 57 Kobo per share from 43 Kobo per share.

Last week, the total value of trades jumped by 580.7 per cent to N1.102 billion from the previous week’s N161.9 million, the total volume of transactions surged by 160.5 per cent to 70.9 million units from 27.2 million units, and the number of deals declined by 0.55 per cent to 182 deals from 183 deals.

The most traded stock by value was Okitipupa Plc with N917.9 million, Geo-Fluids Plc recorded N96.6 million, Friesland Campina Wamco Nigeria Plc posted N22.8 million, CSCS Plc traded N18.5 million, and IGI Plc reported N17.8 million.

The most traded stock by volume was IGI Plc with 35.3 million units, Geo-Fluids Plc exchanged 19.4 million units, Food Concepts Plc transacted 5.2 million units, Okitipupa Plc quoted 4.2 million units, and IPWA Plc achieved 3.6 million units.