Discussions with regulators are close to reaching a conclusion and the policy is likely to be available before the end of the first half of this year. Working at home due to Covid-19 has pushed cyber risk up corporate agendas. Many processes that were still manually performed in Nigeria have had to be digitalized in a hurry. The new policy will cover areas such as data loss and reputational risk as well as cybercrime. Greater reliance on cloud computer servers that are accessed over the internet is one result of people having to work at home. A study of IT managers by Sophos in 2020 found that 86% of respondents in Nigeria had experienced public cloud security incidents in the previous year, putting it second only to India in the world. More Nigerian organizations had suffered from having public cloud data exposed than in any other country.
Low incomes and lack of trust as the factors holding back Nigeria’s insurance penetration. 40% of the population lives on less than $2 a day, and only about a quarter of Nigeria’s population could afford to buy a basic insurance product. development of trust in insurance is constrained by low levels of financial literacy and a culture of reliance on the family. Fragmentation of the Nigerian insurance industry is often seen as a barrier to penetration. Eventual prospect of higher capital requirements for insurers will lead to a process of industry consolidation. This would also reduce the need for domestic insurers to rely on international reinsurance capacity.