Ganiyu Musa is one of the doyens of Africa’s insurance industry who has made his mark in both the Nigerian and African insurance markets. In this interview with I NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he spoke on why he joined FBS Re after retirement and his plans for the fully Nigerian-owned reinsurance company.
Tell us about your new position as the MD of FBS Reinsurance and the new grounds you want to break.?
There are certain people that are so important that can bring you out of retirement.
I have known the principle actors of FBS reinsurance for 5 years, Alhaji Bala and Mr. Fola Daniel for their consistent credibility and they always stand on the side of the truth even at the time when the truth could cost them personal relationships, they don’t compromise. They have placed huge deposit on my back so when I retired from cornerstone, I got a call from Alhaji Bala, he sat me down and explained the vision of FBS Re to me and what they are trying to achieve. I was very glad to come out of retirement and serve the company because it resonated with me. Based on more than one decade experience from the underwriter side, I knew the pin points of the direct underwriters when it comes to reinsurance placement.
What is your take on foreign reinsurers dominating the Nigeria and Africa market.?
The landscape of reinsurers is still dominated by foreign operators, exposing the sector to capital flight. What we have seen is that, when the conditions are right they are your darling they come they give you everything, But at the slightest turn of events that may not even be related to your own country, they take their money and exit the country. Like when they lose money in the Gulf of Mexico or they lose money in Europe, they toughen conditions, restrict capacity and sometimes they totally withdraw capacity and then you are left alone.
Clearly, in our market there exists a real need for a truly local capacity but well governed and that is where FBS really comes in.
Today, FBS re is the only reinsurance in Nigeria that is truly local. our shareholding is local and we report fully in Nigeria. Our head office is in Nigeria and we don’t take instructions from anyone outside the Country.
Secondly, when you have as a Pioneer CEO, a retired commissioner for insurance and by far, one of the most successful if not the most successful CFIs we have had in the country, then you will know that your organization is set up to operate on a strict level of adherence to rules and regulations.
Reinsurance is designed to operate based on ethics and highest level of governance and this resonates very well with me. Everybody knows in the market in Nigeria when you mention Cornerstone in terms of the level of governance and ethics that is the ground we built in cornerstone. So this is why it was easy for me to sign up to the vision of FBS Re. The way we present ourselves to the market is that Nigeria is our own, we are not going anywhere, we understand your pinpoint. We are not in a hurry because we are trying to build to last. so it is not a sprint it is a marathon. so we are deliberate at every step that we take that it is moving us forward in the journey that we hae embarked on.
What is the financial position RBS RE.?
In 2024, we ended with about N51billion which if you look at it within the context of having just traded for 4 years is phenomenal. we grew by more than 50% in 2024 and more importantly the company has remained profitable from year one.
what does that tell us, our assumption in terms of the business need responates with the market.
Today, we have only two insurance companies in Nigerian market that we are not on their Treaty so so we do business with everybody in Nigeria.
To achieve the single market, what is the concrete step that operators have taken.?
The single market is also African Continent Free Trade Area,(AfCFTA. A number of countries have signed up but there are several stages to it after the signing we have the ratification and before you ratify, there are different protocols for goods and services and more and all of these are going on in the background.
The most important thing is that there is a very strong platform that is going on at the AfCFTA secretariat both in terms of technical assistance, data, policy issues and policy statements. All these that they are doing is part of the implementation steps just as we are having it in insurance sector, other sectors like the bankers are going through their own process. there is a committee for insurance in Nigeria for instance and this is same with other sectors and other countries.
