The Risk, Audit and Compliance Committee (RACC) of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) is set to strengthen the capacity of insurance professionals to manage the expanded risks and opportunities created by the industry’s recently-concluded recapitalisation exercise.

The Committee said the industry’s stronger capital base must now be matched by improved skills, effective governance structures and a robust risk management system to ensure that insurers can deliver sustainable returns to shareholders while strengthening policyholder protection.

The position was disclosed by the Chairman of RACC, Olugbenga Akinlalu, during a virtual press conference yesterday ahead of the committee’s yearly conference to be held in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The conference, which will bring together chief internal auditors, chief risk officers, chief compliance officers and other professionals responsible for assuring management and boards, is themed: ‘Beyond Capital: From Capital to Capability Driving Resilience, Innovating Governance’.

Akinlalu said the conference was designed to address the critical question of what comes next for insurers after the recapitalisation exercise, stressing that the additional capital would only deliver its intended benefits if supported by the right human capacity and governance framework.

According to him, recapitalisation has significantly increased the financial capacity of insurance companies, creating opportunities for operators to enter new lines of business, explore investment opportunities and undertake additional ventures.

He, however, warned that the expanded opportunities would also expose insurers to new risks, making the roles of audit, risk and compliance professionals increasingly critical.

In response to this compliance bottleneck, local digital capacity builders like MTN are stepping forward to bridge the execution gap.

Speaking on the issue, the Chief Enterprise Business Officer at MTN Nigeria, Lynda Saint-Nwafor, mentioned that MTN’s data centre and cloud offering was “about data sovereignty, scale and sustainability”.

“It is designed to keep Africa’s data in Africa while enabling businesses to scale securely. For MTN, it aligns with our vision to be the leading digital solutions provider across Africa, building infrastructure that supports long-term economic transformation,” she said.