Esther Oritse
Lagos — The Organised Private Sector represented by Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), business community has welcomed the introduction of a ₦20 billion collective insurance bond backed by a consortium of insurers to replace the long-standing container deposit system in Nigeria’s maritime trade.
The new scheme, designed to protect international traders and freight-forwarders, marks a major shift toward an insurance-driven framework for container and cargo risk management, with agreed standard premiums now set for container indemnity, cargo-in-transit, and public liability coverages.
Speaking at an engagement with insurance stakeholders on Wednesday in Lagos, NACCIMA’s President, Engr. Jani Ibrahim OON, represented by the group’s Director General, Sola Obadimu, emphasised the critical role of insurance in enabling business operations from maritime and oil & gas to agriculture and exports.
The 2-day event, which dedicated the first day to maritime stakeholders, held at NACCIMA’s secretariat, spotlighted how Section 203 of the newly assented Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 outlaws the traditional container-deposit fee and ushers in an insurance-based mechanism for both laden and empty shipping containers. The reform signals “a new era” in container-risk management, NACCIMA said.
To drive implementation, NACCIMA proposed setting up an Implementation Committee representing private-sector trade groups (including manufacturers, SMEs, employers), regulators and all maritime stakeholders. On-boarding is slated to begin January 2026.
Obadimu said: “The private sector will take the lead in implementing the Container Insurance Law in the maritime sector, towards the complete elimination of the deposit fee, as stipulated in law.”
Business-owners were urged to support the shift to an insurance-model, with NACCIMA detailing its partnership with consulting firm FRM Communications Limited to digitise container profiling, map stakeholders and integrate into national trade-facilitation systems.
The scheme, already approved by the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, will deploy the IMPEX compliance platform to link container insurance to the national export-certificate and single-window systems.
NACCIMA further pledged ongoing enforcement collaborations with the National Insurance Commission, the National Single Window Secretariat, the Nigerian Customs Service and other agencies.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of FRM Communications, Mr. Femi Banjo, encouraged maritime and insurance stakeholders to embrace the process and contribute meaningfully to its smooth implementation.
Noting the menace of expired containers plaguing Nigerian ports and trade system, the FRM boss encouraged the committee to begin discussions on tackling the menace via insurance
On his part, the Director General of Dangerous Goods Academy, Dr. Alban Igwe, observed that the carriage of dangerous goods have been exempted from container insurance coverage.
Igwe, however, expressed optimism that the new container insurance framework would provide a more seamless process with cost efficiency in the port sector.
