NDIC boosts capacity building initiative

• NDIC boosts capacity building initiative

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation says 46 members of staff have graduated from the Chartered Banker/Master in Business Administration Programme at Bangor University, Scotland.

The graduates have also earned themselves triple qualifications of MBA, Bangor University; Associate, Chartered Institute of Bankers, Scotland the oldest professional banking institute in the world and Associate, The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

While speaking at the CIBN Graduates’ Induction and Prize Award Day in Lagos, the NDIC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Alh. Umaru Ibrahim, said that the corporation sponsored some of its staff on the CB/MBA programme to upscale the skills of the staff in the lower/middle managerial cadre.

According to him, since the beginning of the programme in 2013, a total of 77 NDIC staff members have been enrolled in the Chartered Banker Bangor Programme.

These, he said, included the 46 out of which 19 that graduated last weekend had successfully completed the programme while the others were at various stages of completion.

He challenged the CB/MBA graduates to embrace life-long learning and self-development in their future endeavours.

The NDIC CEO used the occasion to emphasise that the banking environment was witnessing rapid changes, including the forces of globalisation of banking, economic uncertainties, advances in Information and Communications technology, such as block chain technology and virtual currency which bankers must grapple with.

Ibrahim also noted that the current economic situation which most developing countries, including Nigeria were facing underscored the need to pay greater attention to issues such as financial literacy, consumer protection, sustainability and innovative financial services solutions.

He gave instances such as mobile money, agency banking, virtual currency, which must be harnessed and integrated into the nation’s financial services industry to enhance the role of banking system towards economic growth and development.

The CIBN and NDIC had over the years been collaborating in human capacity building initiatives, including the Chartered Banker/Master in Business Administration programme at Bangor University, Scotland.

The NDIC Academy was also recently accredited by the CIBN as a world-class provider of training in banking supervision and deposit insurance for the African region.