Business
Heirs Life Names Pastor Jerry Eze Independent Non-Executive Director
Heirs Life appoints Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director to strengthen financial inclusion, consumer trust and insurance adoption
Heirs Life Assurance, the specialist life insurance company of Heirs Insurance Group, has appointed Pastor Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director of its Board, effective August 10, 2026.
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The appointment was announced in Lagos and is part of Heirs Life Assurance’s broader effort to strengthen public trust, improve consumer education and accelerate insurance adoption across Nigeria.
Nigeria’s insurance penetration remains below one per cent, despite the size of the country’s economy and population.
The low level of coverage continues to highlight the need for greater financial protection and stronger public confidence in insurance products.
Against that backdrop, Heirs Life said Eze’s appointment would bring additional perspectives on community engagement, value-based leadership and social impact as the company works to make insurance more accessible.
Eze is the Founder and Lead Pastor of Streams of Joy International Ministry, which has 34 branches across West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and North America.
He is also the convener of the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declaration, popularly known as NSPPD, a large digital prayer platform with a global audience.
Beyond his religious work, Eze has been involved in humanitarian and community initiatives through the Jerry Eze Foundation, which provides housing support and grants to vulnerable and underserved communities.
In 2026, Eze announced N1 billion in grants for young entrepreneurs working in agriculture, technology and manufacturing.
The initiative is designed to support enterprise development and expand economic opportunities for young Nigerians.
Before becoming a full-time pastor, Eze worked in development communications.
His professional experience included serving as a Communications Specialist on a World Bank HIV/AIDS programme and working with the United Nations Population Fund.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and International Relations from Abia State University and a postgraduate degree in Business Administration from Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Tony O. Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Life Assurance, said Eze’s experience and influence would contribute to the company’s efforts to deepen financial inclusion.
“Pastor Jerry brings an exceptional combination of integrity, influence, and a deep understanding of people and communities,” Elumelu said.
He added that Eze’s insight would help Heirs Life strengthen consumer trust, expand access to insurance and reinforce its efforts to protect the financial future of Nigerians.
Eze described the appointment as an opportunity to contribute to the development of Nigeria’s insurance sector at an important point in its evolution.
“I am honoured to join the Board of Heirs Life Assurance at a defining moment for the insurance industry,” Eze said.
He added that greater financial security could give individuals, families and businesses the confidence and resilience needed to pursue their aspirations.
Eze said he looked forward to working with the company’s Board and management to make insurance more accessible, relevant and impactful for Nigerians.
The appointment comes as Heirs Life continues to position itself as a specialist life insurer focused on expanding financial protection through digital and physical channels.
The company has branches across Nigeria and combines its digital platforms with physical distribution channels as it seeks to reach more customers.
Heirs Life is one of three insurance businesses under Heirs Holdings, alongside Heirs General Insurance and Heirs Insurance Brokers.
Together, the three businesses serve more than three million people directly and indirectly, according to the company.
Heirs Life has also received international recognition, ranking seventh on the Financial Times list of Africa’s fastest-growing companies.
The wider Heirs Holdings group has investments across 24 countries and four continents, with interests spanning several sectors of the African economy.
For Heirs Life, Eze’s appointment comes with a particular focus on trust and financial inclusion, two areas that remain central to the challenge of expanding insurance coverage in Nigeria.
The company believes his experience engaging large communities, combined with his background in development communications and philanthropy, can support its efforts to make life insurance more accessible to a wider section of the population.
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The move also reflects the growing emphasis on consumer awareness and financial resilience as Nigeria’s insurance industry seeks to reach more households and businesses.
TotalEnergies and Nigerian independent energy company AMNI International have taken the Final Investment Decision on the $800 million Ima Gas Project, more than five decades after the gas field was discovered.
The Ima Gas Project, located in shallow waters across Oil Mining Leases 112 and 117 near Bonny Island, Rivers State, is expected to begin production in 2028 and reach a plateau of 350 million cubic feet of gas per day.
The development is expected to play a major role in supplying feed gas to Nigeria LNG, with the Ima field projected to provide about one-third of the additional gas required for the ongoing Train 7 expansion.
Train 7 is expected to increase Nigeria LNG’s liquefaction capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 million tonnes per annum, strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to process and export liquefied natural gas.
The Ima field was discovered in 1973 but remained undeveloped for more than 50 years. The Final Investment Decision provides the commercial and financial basis for finally developing the long-dormant resource.
Under the development plan, TotalEnergies will operate the project with a 40 per cent interest, while AMNI will hold the remaining 60 per cent.
The field will be developed using a single offshore platform connected to Nigeria LNG’s facility on Bonny Island through a 22-kilometre pipeline.
TotalEnergies said its investment in the project is more than $600 million, while the Federal Government described the overall Final Investment Decision as an $800 million investment.
At the FID signing ceremony in Abuja, TotalEnergies Exploration and Production Nigeria Managing Director, Mathieu Bouyer, described the decision as the culmination of a development process that had stretched across several decades.
He said the project reflected increased confidence in Nigeria’s investment environment and highlighted reforms targeting the non-associated gas sector as part of the factors that helped make the development commercially viable.
President Bola Tinubu welcomed the investment, saying the project demonstrated the potential of reforms introduced to reduce the cost and time required to develop oil and gas projects.
The President said the government had introduced incentives aimed specifically at unlocking onshore and shallow-water gas projects that had remained undeveloped for years.
He said the Ima development would create opportunities for Nigerian businesses, engineers, technicians and contractors, while generating jobs, economic activity in host communities and additional export earnings.
The project is also expected to have a strong Nigerian content component. TotalEnergies said all key contractors for the development would be Nigerian companies, while about 60 per cent of the workforce during the development phase is expected to come from host communities.
The development will incorporate measures aimed at reducing emissions. TotalEnergies said the platform would receive electricity from shore, operate without routine flaring and use permanent methane detection and monitoring systems.
The Federal Government said the project is part of efforts to turn Nigeria’s large natural gas reserves into productive assets capable of supporting industrialisation, energy supply, jobs and export earnings.
Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, said the Ima development illustrated the importance of creating commercial and investment conditions that allow previously stranded resources to be developed.
The government also noted that Nigerian financial institutions arranged 77 per cent of the project’s financing, further highlighting the participation of domestic financial institutions in the development.
For Nigeria LNG, the project comes as the company continues work on the Train 7 expansion, which is designed to increase the Bonny Island plant’s liquefaction capacity and strengthen the country’s position in the global LNG market.
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