Hilal Takaful Nigeria Limited is the oldest name in Nigerian takaful and the hardest to assess. It began in 2010 as Cornerstone Takaful Nigeria Limited, the first composite takaful window operator authorised by NAICOM, is 99.99% owned by Cornerstone Insurance Plc, and appears on NAICOM's takaful operators register as RTC 003, authorised for general and family takaful. Its parent's website says the operator runs on mudarabah and tabarru and has distributed surplus to claim-free participants for more than seven years. What nobody publishes is a single naira figure for claims paid, surplus distributed or fund size, and on 6 and 5 October 2026 Hilal's own website would not load at all. If you want pedigree and a wide product list, Hilal has both; if you want disclosure, the takaful versus insurance hub will point you to operators that give it.
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Licence history: window in 2010, standalone company today
NAICOM's takaful operators page, fetched on 5 October 2026, lists five companies. Hilal Takaful Nigeria Limited is the second entry, with a registered address at 191 Herbert Macaulay Way, Ebute Metta, Lagos, the website hilaltakaful.com.ng, authorised business of general and family takaful, and registration number RTC 003. The low number is the tell: Crown is RTC-097, Jaiz Takaful RTC 092 and Noor RTC 091, numbers from the 2016 to 2023 licensing rounds, while Hilal's 003 dates from the first window authorisations.
Cornerstone Insurance Plc's subsidiaries page, fetched the same day, fills in the rest. It describes Hilal as 'formerly known as Cornerstone Takaful Nigeria Limited', holds 'the distinction of being Nigeria's first composite Takaful operator, with our initial approval granted under a window license', and states that the company has provided family and general takaful 'for over 14 years'. The parent's shareholding is given as 99.99%. That makes Hilal structurally different from Noor, Jaiz Takaful and Salam, which were set up as standalone takaful companies, and more like a captive Islamic arm of a conventional insurer that has since been separately incorporated.
One licensing point we could not close. NAICOM's homepage ticker on the day of our check announced the completion of the insurance sector recapitalisation exercise under NIIRA 2025 and the issuance of new licence certificates to recapitalised companies, with a published list of companies confirmed as compliant with the new minimum capital. Whether Hilal Takaful appears on that list is something a buyer should confirm with NAICOM or the operator directly; our guide to what NIIRA 2025 means for takaful buyers explains why it matters.
The takaful model Hilal says it uses
Cornerstone's page states that Hilal's offerings 'are based on the principles of Al-Mudarabah and Al-Tabarru'. In plain terms, participants donate contributions into a pooled fund (tabarru), claims are paid from that pool, and the operator manages the pool's investments as a mudarib, sharing investment profit on a ratio with the participants rather than taking a fixed wakalah fee. The same statement appears in the company's own About Us text as indexed by search engines, which also says the company has 'successfully distributed surplus funds to participants without claims for more than seven years'.
A mudarabah model is the older of the two mainstream takaful structures and is not wrong, but it carries a question the buyer should ask: what ratio of investment profit goes to the operator, and is any underwriting surplus also shared with the operator or returned entirely to participants? The AAOIFI position favours returning underwriting surplus to participants and paying the operator a disclosed fee, and the page does not say which Hilal does. Our explainer on how takaful surplus works sets out the difference and why it changes what a no-claims year is worth to you.
What Hilal sells: general and family lines
The product list is the broadest of any Nigerian takaful operator on paper. Cornerstone's description names motor vehicle cover, engineering all risks, asset protection, third-party liability, goods in transit, group schemes, credit cover, mortgage protection and wealth creation products. Hilal's own general and family product pages, which search engines had indexed but which we could not load directly, list the lines below. Every one is quote-only: no contribution level, excess, benefit scale or maturity value is published anywhere we could reach.
| Line | Products listed | What is published | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motor (general) | Third-party motor cover; comprehensive motor cover | Third party includes property damage up to a stated naira limit and liability for death or injury; comprehensive described as tabarru-based with surplus sharing when no claim is recorded | Contribution for your vehicle value, excess, and the surplus ratio |
| Other general | Engineering all risks, asset protection, goods in transit, third-party liability | Names only | Policy wording and exclusions |
| Family: protection | Group family scheme, keyman, credit takaful cover, mortgage protection, traveller's scheme | Names only | Sum covered, term, and whether the fund is separated from general takaful |
| Family: savings | Takaful investment plan, group educational scheme, marriage plan, esusu plan | Names only | Participant investment account split, maturity illustration, and surrender terms |
| Pilgrimage | Hajj and Umrah takaful plan; pilgrim care scheme | Names only | Whether the cover is for the trip, the savings, or both |
Two products are unusual enough to note. A credit takaful cover and a mortgage protection cover are the pieces a non-interest bank needs to wrap around a murabaha or diminishing musharakah, and their presence suggests Hilal has written bancatakaful business for Nigerian non-interest banks. An esusu plan is a takaful wrapper around the rotating savings tradition, which no other operator names. Neither is explained beyond its title on the pages we could see.
What is not published, and what to ask for
This is where Hilal falls behind. We found no claims-paid figure, no annual surplus amount, no participants' fund size, no audited takaful accounts and no Shariah advisory committee names on any page reachable from the operator or its parent. The 'more than seven years' of surplus distribution is a duration, not an amount. By contrast the provider verdict on our Noor Takaful profile rests on over N11 billion of claims paid since January 2017, and Jaiz Takaful discloses gross contributions in audited annual reports. Hilal has fourteen years of history and tells you none of the numbers from it.
- Ask for the most recent audited financial statements of Hilal Takaful Nigeria Limited, separate from Cornerstone Insurance Plc's group accounts.
- Ask for the last three years of surplus distribution as a percentage of contributions on the class you are buying, and how it was paid (cash, contribution credit or both).
- Ask for the names of the Shariah advisory committee and the date of its last certification of the products you are buying.
- Ask whether the general and family funds are separately held and whether the operator's shareholder fund extends a qard to the participants' fund in a deficit year.
- Ask for the claims process in writing, with turnaround times, and which Cornerstone channels you may use to lodge a claim.
If the operator answers all five in writing, Hilal's long record becomes a reason to buy. If it answers none, the record is a brochure claim.
Addresses, contact and how to buy
The NAICOM register gives the Ebute Metta address. Hilal's own company profile page, as indexed, gives an operating office at Plot A2 Hakeem Balogun Street, NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, with the email enquiries@hilaltakaful.com.ng, and our Hilal Takaful provider page carries both. Cornerstone's contact page lists a Lagos switchboard and separate email addresses for sales, claims and complaints, which is the practical route while Hilal's own site is down. There is no published online quote tool, USSD code or WhatsApp sales line of the kind Salam Takaful runs from Kano, so expect to deal with an agent, a broker or the Cornerstone branch network.
For motor cover specifically, NAICOM's homepage links a verification tool for checking that a policy is active and recognised by the regulator. Use it the day your certificate arrives; a takaful certificate that does not verify is worthless at a checkpoint and at a claim. Our comparison of motor takaful against conventional car insurance explains the third-party minimum every operator must meet.
Hilal against the other four operators
The table uses NAICOM's register for the regulatory facts and our provider profiles for the disclosure assessment.
| Operator | NAICOM number | Base | Model or structure as published | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilal Takaful | RTC 003 | Lagos (Ebute Metta registered; Alausa office) | Mudarabah and tabarru; subsidiary of Cornerstone Insurance | Products and pedigree; no claims, surplus or fund figures |
| Noor Takaful | RTC 091 (002) | Lagos (Ikoyi registered; Gbagada office) | Standalone operator since 2016 | Claims paid and surplus figures published; the benchmark |
| Jaiz Takaful | RTC 092 (001) | Abuja (Utako) | Standalone, Jaiz Bank lineage | Audited annual reports with gross contributions |
| Salam Takaful | RTC 004 | Kano (Fagge), with Abuja and Lagos branches | Standalone; sells by WhatsApp and USSD *2200# | Distribution-led; figures thin |
| Crown Takaful | RTC-097 (005) | Abuja (Central Business District) | Licensed 18 December 2023, underwriting since 2024 | No track record yet; governance claims only |
On reach, Hilal and Noor are Lagos houses, Jaiz Takaful and Crown are Abuja houses, and Salam Takaful is the northern operator with the phone-first distribution. On product breadth, Hilal's list is the longest. On numbers, Noor and Jaiz Takaful publish and the other three do not, which is the single fact that should drive a buyer who cannot get written answers from Hilal.
Verdict by buyer: motor, SME, family
A car owner in Lagos who already deals with Cornerstone, or whose broker does, can reasonably take Hilal's comprehensive motor takaful, provided the contribution quote is competitive with Noor's and the surplus-sharing ratio is stated on the certificate. A car owner with no Cornerstone connection should get a Noor quote first, because Noor publishes the claims record that Hilal does not.
An SME owner needing goods-in-transit, engineering or third-party liability cover has a real reason to call Hilal, since it is one of the few operators naming those commercial lines, but should insist on the policy wording and the audited accounts before paying an annual contribution. A parent considering a family takaful savings plan (educational, marriage or investment) should treat Hilal as unproven until it discloses the participant investment account structure and a maturity illustration; our guide to family takaful as a savings plan sets out what that illustration must show. Facts checked against naicom.gov.ng, cornerstone.com.ng on 5 October 2026. Hilal's own site, hilaltakaful.com.ng, was unreachable on 6 and 5 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hilal Takaful licensed by NAICOM?
Yes. NAICOM's takaful operators register lists Hilal Takaful Nigeria Limited with registration number RTC 003, a registered address at 191 Herbert Macaulay Way, Ebute Metta, Lagos, and authorisation for general and family takaful. Whether it has been confirmed as compliant with the NIIRA 2025 minimum capital should be checked against NAICOM's published list.
Who owns Hilal Takaful?
Cornerstone Insurance Plc, which states on its subsidiaries page that it holds a 99.99% equity stake in Hilal Takaful Nigeria Limited. The company was formerly Cornerstone Takaful Nigeria Limited and was Nigeria's first composite takaful window operator, authorised in 2010.
Does Hilal Takaful offer motor insurance?
Yes, as motor takaful. Its general takaful page lists third-party motor cover and comprehensive motor cover, both described as based on tabarru with participants eligible to share surplus where no claim is recorded. Contributions are quote-only; NAICOM's verification tool can confirm a certificate is active.
Does Hilal Takaful publish how much it has paid in claims?
No. Neither Hilal's pages nor Cornerstone's subsidiaries page gives a claims-paid figure, a surplus amount or audited takaful accounts; the only disclosure is that surplus has been distributed to claim-free participants for more than seven years. Ask the operator for its audited financial statements before buying.
What takaful model does Hilal use?
Mudarabah and tabarru, according to Cornerstone's description. Participants donate contributions to a shared fund and the operator manages the fund's investments for a share of the profit. The share ratio and the treatment of underwriting surplus are not published, so ask for both in writing.
Compare providers in your state
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Should I choose Hilal Takaful or Noor Takaful?
Choose on disclosure. Noor publishes claims paid and surplus distribution; Hilal publishes a longer product list and a longer history but no figures. If Hilal answers written requests for audited accounts and surplus ratios, its fourteen-year record is a genuine advantage; if it does not, Noor's published numbers should win.
