The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has appealed to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to withdraw its recent circular prohibiting conventional insurance companies from co-insuring businesses with Islamic insurance firms.

In a statement signed by its Founder and Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the faith-based human rights advocacy group described the directive as discriminatory and divisive, accusing NAICOM of promoting “religious discrimination, insurance apartheid, and Islamophobic exclusivism.”

Akintola said the circular was “archaic, myopic, and parochial,” arguing that it targets the economic interests of Nigerian Muslims, particularly those operating Islamic insurance (Takaful) businesses.

He warned that the policy could undermine religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence, adding that regulatory decisions should strengthen unity rather than deepen divisions within the financial sector.

“It seeks to deprive millions of Muslims from having access to insurance policies. It is Islamophobic. It is also an attempt to open the doors of businesses to religious apartheid, exclusivism, and gymnastic religiosity as opposed to free enterprise without any form of discrimination either on the grounds of religion, ethnicity, or gender.

“Professionals in the insurance field cannot deny the fact that all conventional insurance companies have Muslim customers. NAICOM may have inadvertently tickled the consciousness of Muslims for self-determination in the area of insurance.

“This is capable of generating an unhealthy atmosphere whereby Muslim customers begin to withdraw from non-Islamic (conventional) insurance companies due to this unhealthy and tactless development.

“This circular is a product of short-sightedness and acrobatic religiosity. It is long in redtapism but short in strategic planning. This policy is anti-Islam and malicious. It also suffers from the desertification of emotional intelligence. Therefore, MURIC demands immediate and unconditional withdrawal of this offensive, provocative, and illegal circular.” (The Nation, but headline rejigged)