Africa’s Biggest City Takes Out $7.5 Million Flood-Risk Policy

The Lagos government said in October that flooding had displaced 3,000 people and affected more than 6,000 others over the nine previous months.

Photographer: Adetona Omokanye/Bloomberg

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, has secured a $7.5 million flood insurance policy so some of its poorest residents can access relief when disaster strikes.

The policy covers up to 4 million people in the coastal megacity, according to a statement Thursday by the Insurance Development Forum, a public-private partnership that works with some of the world’s largest insurers to bridge protection gaps in vulnerable markets.