An Assessment of the Role of NAICOM in Regulating the Nigerian Insurance Market

This study assesses the effectiveness of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in regulating the Nigerian insurance market from 2018 to 2023. NAICOM, as the apex regulatory body for insurance in Nigeria, is responsible for supervising market conduct, ensuring solvency, protecting policyholders, and promoting market development. Evaluating the commission's regulatory effectiveness is important in the context of recent recapitalization directives, market consolidation initiatives, and ongoing reforms under the National Insurance Policy. The research relies on secondary data including NAICOM annual reports, industry performance bulletins, audited financial statements of licensed insurers, and published enforcement actions. Document analysis and content analysis techniques are applied to assess NAICOM's regulatory outputs across dimensions of financial supervision, market conduct regulation, and consumer protection. Descriptive statistics summarize trends in regulatory compliance, company solvency ratios, and market penetration indicators over the period. Preliminary findings are expected to indicate progress in solvency regulation but persistent challenges in market conduct enforcement and rural market development. The study recommends strengthening NAICOM's field inspection capacity, improving transparency in enforcement actions, and establishing formal consumer protection ombudsman mechanisms. Keywords: NAICOM, Insurance Regulation, Market Supervision, Solvency, Consumer Protection.