NACCIMA rallies business community for smooth implementation of new container-insurance law

Nigeria’s private sector has united behind the newly-assented Container-Insurance Law, with operators calling it a long-overdue reform that will free up capital, eliminate decades of opaque container-deposit practices, and streamline maritime-trade operations.

The move followed a 2-day stakeholder engagement in Lagos convened by the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), where business leaders, insurers, freight-forwarders and port-sector regulators aligned on a unified implementation roadmap.

NACCIMA President, Engr. Jani Ibrahim, on Day 1 engaged the maritime community while he was represented by the association’s Director General, Sola Obadimu, on Day 2 for robust discussions with insurance experts and stakeholders.

The group said the private sector is ready to lead the transition from container deposits to insurance-based assurance as mandated under Section 203 of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.

NACCIMA President described the old deposit regime – where shippers paid up to hundreds of thousands of naira per container as refundable collateral – as a “distortive and capital-draining burden” that frequently trapped funds due to protracted reconciliation disputes with shipping companies.

With NIIRA 2025 outlawing the practice, he said container insurance represents “a new era” in Nigeria’s logistics ecosystem.

During the engagement, NACCIMA announced the creation of a ₦20 billion Collective Insurance Bond arranged by a consortium of insurers to serve as an industry-wide security for international traders and freight operators. Stakeholders also confirmed that standardised premiums have been harmonised for container indemnity, cargo-in-transit cover, and public liability insurance, replacing arbitrary pricing across different terminals and operators. The association further unveiled its partnership with FRM Communications Limited to digitise container profiling and map stakeholders into the IMPEX compliance platform, which will be synchronised with the National Single Window and the new export-certificate system.

The digital integration has already secured approval from the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, with onboarding scheduled for January 2026.

FRM Communications Managing Director, Femi Banjo, urged operators to embrace the insurance framework and contribute to its smooth rollout, noting that the system could help address the chronic problem of expired and abandoned containers clogging Nigerian ports.

He said insurance-backed compliance would make it harder for obsolete containers to be dumped into the Nigerian supply chain.

Also speaking, the Director General of the Dangerous Goods Academy, Dr. Alban Igwe, highlighted that dangerous goods are exempted from the new insurance requirement.

Nonetheless, he expressed optimism that the framework would still deliver improved safety, standardisation and cost efficiency across the ports.

NACCIMA disclosed plans to constitute an Implementation Committee involving manufacturers, SMEs, employers, freight associations, NAICOM, the National Single Window Secretariat, the Nigerian Customs Service and other port regulators to consolidate enforcement and ensure nationwide adoption.

Photo caption:

A group photograph of participants after Day 2 engagement with insurance stakeholders at NACCIMA headquarters in Lagos.