The National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, has directed all individual insurance customers to link their National Identification Number, NIN, to their insurance policies by April 30, 2026.
The commission also instructed corporate clients to provide their Certificate of Incorporation and other relevant Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) documents before the deadline.
The directive was issued through circular number NAICOM/TD/MCCB/CIR/73/2025, titled “Mandatory Submission of National Identification Number and Certificate of Incorporation as Material Information for all Insurance Contracts, Including Group Life Cover.” It was addressed to all managing directors and chief executive officers of insurance companies and brokers across Nigeria.
NAICOM stated that under Section 64(4) of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 and powers conferred by the NAICOM Act 1997, no insurance cover should be provided or incepted without obtaining the NIN of individual clients and the CAC documents of corporate clients. This is part of efforts to strengthen transparency and ensure compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.
Insurance underwriters and brokers are required to reject any risk offered without submission of the NIN or CAC documents. For group life policies, insurers or brokers must obtain a schedule listing employees’ names, dates of birth, and NINs before cover commencement.
For policies already issued and still active but missing the required NIN or CAC documents, insurers must, directly or through intermediaries, engage policyholders to obtain the information and link it to their records by the April 2026 deadline. NAICOM also directed insurers and brokers to run awareness campaigns to emphasize compliance.
Failure to comply with the directive will attract sanctions from NAICOM, which will monitor all insurance companies to ensure strict enforcement. The circular supersedes the earlier NAICOM circular NAICOM/TD/MCCB/CIR/58/2025 on the same subject.