Insurers urged to adapt as climate risks surge
Custodian Investment managing director Wole Oshin told a West African insurance conference that climate volatility has transformed from theoretical actuarial modeling into immediate financial pressures, reshaping regional markets and corporate balance sheets. Nigeria’s 2022 flooding event affected 33 states while killing over 600 people and displacing more than 1.4 million residents, generating billions of naira in industry losses as submersion damaged roads, agricultural land and petroleum infrastructure.
Oshin said catastrophic weather patterns once considered century-level occurrences have accelerated to multi-year frequencies across the subregion, citing Ghana’s 2015 Accra floods with subsequent petroleum station explosion killing over 150, Sierra Leone’s 2017 mudslide that claimed more than 1,100 lives, and persistent Sahelian droughts devastating Niger and Chad agriculture. The executive urged adoption of parametric insurance products, regional risk pooling mechanisms and green investment strategies alongside improved claims settlement speed to restore public confidence eroded by delayed recoveries following major disasters.
Climate adaptation requires proper geographic risk assessment including Lagos elevation mapping distinguishing lagoon properties from inland parcels, stronger capital reserves against unpredictable tail scenarios, and enhanced reinsurance frameworks addressing liquidity constraints during catastrophic events.
