Section 4: Functions of the Corporation

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Corporation shall have power, within or outside Nigeria, to carry on any class of insurance business, including life insurance business, and to insure and reinsure against loss of any kind, arising from any risk or contingency and in respect of any matter whatsoever.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, the Corporation shall have power to do any of the following things, that is-
(a) to insure any property of the Government of the Federation or of the Government of any State in the Federation or of any statutory corporation;
(b) to insure any property in which any government mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection or any statutory corporation has any interest (including any property held on trust for such government or corporation);
(c) to accept on reinsurance, any part of risks undertaken by any other person (being risks such that the Corporation has power to insure against) and to retrocede any part of such risks;
(d) to act as insurance agent or insurance broker in relation to any insurance, and in particular in relation to the insurance of any property mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection.
(3) Except as may be expressly provided by an order made under subsection (4) of this section, the Corporation shall have power to do anything or to enter into any transaction which in the opinion of the Board is calculated to facilitate the due performance of the functions of the Corporation under this Act, and in particular the Corporation may-
(a) acquire any undertaking of any registered insurer or acquire, hold or have any shares or stock in, or any financial interest in, any such undertaking;
(b) assist in organising training schemes for employees of any registered insurer;
(c) appoint insurance agents.
(4) Where the President is of opinion that it is in the public interest so to do, he may by order published in the Federal Gazette, abridge or restrict the powers of the Corporation to any extent necessary; and when so abridged or restricted, the powers of the Corporation shall be exercisable subject to and in accordance with the provisions of the order, and not otherwise.
(5) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the foregoing provisions of this Act relate only to the capacity of the Corporation as a statutory corporation, and nothing in the said provisions shall be construed as authorising the disregard by the Corporation of any rule of law.
(6) In this section, the expression "statutory corporation" means any body corporate (including a company in respect of which any government in Nigeria, Federal or State, holds a majority of shares, but excluding any other company incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act or any enactment thereby repealed) established directly by or under any law in force in the Federation.