Lasaco Assurance Plc has received formal commitment letters from shareholders following its recent Extraordinary General Meeting, strengthening confidence in the company’s plan to raise additional capital in line with regulatory requirements and ongoing insurance sector reforms.

Speaking on the development, Ademoye Shobo, acting managing director of Lasaco Assurance Plc, said the confirmation from shareholders provides clarity and certainty as the company moves to execute its approved capital-raising strategy.

“The commitment letters from our shareholders give us the confidence to proceed with our capitalisation plans in line with the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 and other regulatory requirements guiding the insurance industry.

“We will leverage all available opportunities to raise the approved capital, and our existing shareholders should watch out for our rights issue as part of the process,”  Shobo said.

With shareholders’ backing now formally documented, Lasaco Assurance Plc plans to actively pursue available funding options to deliver the approved capital raise. The company plans to deploy a mix of market-based instruments, including a rights issue and other permissible fundraising structures, to ensure timely and effective capital mobilisation.

The Management noted that the commitment letters reinforce investor confidence in the company’s growth strategy, governance framework, and long-term outlook. The capital raise is expected to support balance sheet strengthening, improve underwriting capacity, and provide greater flexibility for business expansion across core insurance segments.

As part of the process, existing shareholders have been advised to watch out for the forthcoming rights issue, which will provide them with the opportunity to participate proportionately in capital expansion. The company reaffirmed its intention to ensure transparency and regulatory compliance throughout the fundraising exercise.

Lasaco Assurance Plc views the capitalization drive as a strategic step toward sustaining competitiveness, enhancing risk-bearing capacity, and positioning the company for future growth within Nigeria’s insurance market. The initiative also aligns with broader industry efforts aimed at strengthening the company’s financial resilience and protecting policyholders’ interests.

Ecobank Nigeria is set to host the second edition of its Customer Forum, at the Ecobank Pan-African Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The forum, organised by the bank’s Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) Business (Treasury), is themed ‘Strengthening Regional Integration for Economic Transformation.’

It is designed to examine critical issues shaping Nigeria’s and Africa’s economic outlook in 2026, with particular focus on trade, financial markets, foreign exchange liquidity and regional integration, especially as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement enters a strategic phase of implementation.

Announcing the event in Lagos, the Regional Treasurer, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Olumide Adebayo, said the one-day programme reinforces the bank’s role as a trusted financial partner and customer-focused institution, with intention to foster dialogue, support informed decision-making and deeper regional economic integration across Africa.

According to him, the programme will open with welcome remarks by the Managing Director/Regional Executive, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Bolaji Lawal, who will underscore the bank’s commitment to supporting customers and driving inclusive growth through strategic dialogue, innovation and pan-African collaboration.

The keynote address, titled ‘The Future of Trade in Africa: Harnessing the AfCFTA for Economic Transformation,’ will be delivered by the Group Chief Economist & Managing Director, Research and Trade Intelligence, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Dr. Yemi Kale.

His address will provide insights into Africa’s trade prospects and the transformative potential of the AfCFTA.

The forum will feature two high-level panel discussions: balancing the Risk between Interest Rate and Exchange Rate: Business Expectations and Outlook in 2026 and Export Proceeds, Oil Receipts and Remittances in 2026: Exploring Options that Best Support FX Liquidity and Flows in Nigeria.

The event would be moderated by Messrs. Aruoture Oddiri, Host and Producer of Global Business Report on Arise News and Barnabas Vajeh of Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

Ecobank Nigeria is a member of the Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking institution with operations in 33 African countries and international offices in London, Paris, Beijing and Dubai.

With over 220 branches, more than 36,000 agency banking locations, and robust digital platforms, Ecobank delivers accessible, affordable, and instant banking services. The bank is strategically positioned to support pan-African trade, particularly under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA) has selected three fellows for its inaugural EFInA Research Fellowship Programme, an eight-month initiative aimed at strengthening evidence on how financial inclusion policies, products, and services translate into real improvements in people’s lives and livelihoods.

The Fellowship marks a strategic shift in Nigeria’s financial inclusion agenda—from a longstanding focus on access and uptake to a deeper examination of impact and outcomes, including financial health, household resilience, livelihood sustainability, and women’s economic empowerment.

While Nigeria has recorded steady gains in expanding access to formal financial services, EFInA said questions remain about whether this access is delivering tangible benefits for households, small businesses, and underserved populations.

Launched under the theme “Evaluating the Impact of Financial Services on the Lives and Livelihoods of Nigerians,” the programme is designed to support applied, policy-relevant research examining how financial services function in practice across formal, informal, and digital channels, and the conditions under which they generate meaningful economic and social outcomes.

Speaking at the launch, Foyinsolami Akinjayeju, EFInA’s chief executive officer, said Nigeria’s financial inclusion journey has reached a critical inflection point.

“Financial inclusion must deliver real outcomes—better financial health, resilience, livelihoods, and women’s economic empowerment—not just access,” she said. “The EFInA Research Fellowship will generate rigorous, Nigeria-specific evidence on what truly works, what needs to change, and what can be expanded to deliver outcomes at scale.”

She added that the programme is deliberately structured to bridge the persistent gap between research and decision-making in the financial sector.

“By examining how policies, programmes, and financial products work in practice, the fellowship will produce insights that directly inform better policy choices and product design,” Akinjayeju said.

Each Fellow will receive a N4 million research grant to support fieldwork, travel, and research tools, alongside structured monthly mentorship from senior researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals. Fellows will also gain access to EFInA’s data assets, including its Access to Finance (A2F) survey reports, one of Nigeria’s most comprehensive demand-side datasets on financial inclusion.

Beyond funding, the programme places strong emphasis on research quality, relevance, and uptake. Fellows will participate in monthly capacity-building workshops covering research design, impact evaluation, gender-responsive analysis, and policy engagement. These sessions will be delivered in collaboration with institutions including Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), J-PAL, Lagos Business School, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and international development partners.

According to Oluwatomi Eromosele, EFInA’s research lead, the fellowship responds to a long-standing evidence gap in Nigeria’s financial inclusion ecosystem.

“Access alone is no longer sufficient,” she said. “The critical question is whether financial inclusion is translating into better financial health, greater resilience to shocks, improved livelihoods, and meaningful economic opportunities for women and underserved groups.”

She noted that EFInA is prioritising research that is both credible and usable. “We are investing in rigorous, Nigeria-specific evidence and translating findings into practical, decision-oriented outputs that directly inform policy, regulation, and product design,” Eromosele said.

The Fellows will explore research questions across priority themes, including financial health and household resilience amid economic and climate shocks; the role of financial tools in supporting MSME growth and informal livelihoods; women’s economic empowerment through digital and group-based savings mechanisms; and trust, service experience, and satisfaction across financial channels.

The 2025 EFInA Research Fellows are Sarah Edewor, an agricultural economist and development researcher; Abdulmumin Usman, a policy and political economy researcher; and Abdullahi Ibrahim, a measurement, evaluation, research, and learning practitioner.

A core objective of the Fellowship is to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on financial inclusion evidence drawn from other developing contexts such as India and Bangladesh, which EFInA says do not fully reflect Nigeria’s institutional, cultural, and market realities. By generating locally grounded evidence, the organisation aims to equip policymakers, regulators, financial service providers, and development partners with insights tailored to Nigeria’s context.

Fellows will present interim findings during the programme and showcase their final research outputs at EFInA’s Annual Research Symposium in May 2026. Final outputs will include peer-reviewed research papers, policy briefs, and practitioner-focused knowledge products disseminated to key stakeholders.

The EFInA Research Fellowship aligns with Nigeria’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024–2027, which places renewed emphasis on trust, innovation, consumer outcomes, and inclusive growth, and reflects EFInA’s broader mandate to strengthen evidence and support decision-making across Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.