The Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, has stressed the need for Nigeria to pay more attention to issues such as financial literacy, consumer protection, sustainability and innovative financial services solutions.
According to him, the banking environment was witnessing rapid changes, including the forces of globalisation of banking; economic uncertainties; advances in information and communication technology (ICT), such as block chain technology and virtual currency which bankers must grapple with.
Citing instances he said mobile money, agency banking, virtual currency must be harnessed and integrated into the nation’s financial services industry to enhance the role of banking system towards economic growth and development.
He stated this following the graduation of 46 members of staff of the corporation from the Chartered Banker/Master in Business Administration (CB/MBA) Programme at Bangor University, Scotland.
He noted that the NDIC had over the years been collaborating with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in human capacity building initiatives, including the Chartered Banker/Master in Business Administration (CB/MBA) 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.
According to Ibrahim, since the beginning of the programme in 2013, a total of 77 NDIC staff had been enrolled in the Chartered Banker Bangor Programme, of which, 46 including the 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 careers and professional endeavours.
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 (ACIB).
