The organisers of the 2026 Almond Insurance Industry Awards have opened public voting for the various award categories after receiving 796 nominations from stakeholders across Nigeria’s insurance industry.

The nominees were unveiled at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, following a month-long nomination and screening exercise conducted in line with the criteria established for the awards.

Chairman of the awards, Sir Ogala Osoka, said the large number of nominations reflected growing interest in recognising institutions and individuals contributing to the development of Nigeria’s insurance industry.

The final nominees cut across insurance companies, brokerage firms, corporate organisations, government agencies and individual clients, with winners to be determined through a combination of industry performance data, judges’ assessment and public votes.

The 2026 Almond Insurance Industry Awards and Consumers’ Nite is scheduled to hold on November 6, 2026, in Surulere, Lagos.

Among the nominees for General Insurance Company of the Year are Rex Insurance Limited, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Capital Express Indemnity Insurance Company Limited, Coronation General Insurance Limited, FIN Insurance Company Limited and NEM Insurance Plc.

In the Life Insurance Company of the Year category, the contenders include Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Coronation Life Assurance Limited, Capital Express Assurance Company Limited, Heirs Life Assurance Limited, Stanbic IBTC Life Insurance Limited and Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Limited.

For Insurance Broking Company of the Year, nominees are SCIB Nigeria & Co. Limited, Ark Insurance Brokers, Stanbic IBTC Insurance Brokers, Glanvill Enthoven Insurance Brokers, FBN Insurance Brokers and Hogg Robinson Nigeria Limited.

The Insurance CEO of the Year category features Gboyega Lesi, Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, Stephen Alangbo, Adewale Koko, Olamide Olajolo and Adaobi Nwakuche.

Also nominated in the Valuable Insurance Customer category are Dangote Group, NNPC Limited, Air Peace Limited, Central Bank of Nigeria, Hitech Construction, M.L. Lee Group and PwC Nigeria.

The organisers said the awards would adopt an 80:10:10 assessment model, with industry data accounting for 80 per cent of the final results, judges’ assessment 10 per cent and public voting 10 per cent.

Public voting, which is free, opened following the unveiling of the nominees and will close on September 6. The organisers said the voting platform has been secured with a One-Time Password (OTP) authentication system to minimise multiple or fraudulent votes.

The Almond Insurance Industry Awards, established in 2018, has over the years sought to combine recognition of excellence within the insurance market with consumer engagement and entertainment.

Chief Executive Officer of Almond Productions Limited, Faith Ugwuode, said the entertainment component of the event was deliberate, stressing that it provides an opportunity to take insurance awareness beyond its traditional professional audience.

She explained that the initiative was designed to use entertainment as a vehicle for increasing public interest in insurance and bringing the industry closer to consumers across the country.

Industry observers say initiatives that deepen consumer engagement could become increasingly important as insurers seek to expand the market beyond its traditional customer base and improve insurance penetration.

With the industry undergoing major regulatory and structural changes, including the ongoing recapitalisation exercise, stakeholders have increasingly emphasised the need for insurers to improve public confidence, strengthen service delivery and demonstrate greater value to policyholders.

The Almond awards therefore come at a period when performance, customer service, innovation and market visibility are assuming greater importance in determining how insurance companies compete for customers and capital