The 20th edition of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Workshop for Business Editors and members of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN), which began on Wednesday November 29, in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, provided another rare opportunity to harness information regarding policy direction of the Corporation to deal with challenges confronting the Agency in the discharge of its responsibility.
No doubt, the NDIC has worked tirelessly in promoting stability in the financial system and some notable achievements have modestly recorded over a period of time.
In particular, the collaboration between the NDIC, and the media through the parley has not only been sustained but has continued to be refined towards addressing the issue of capacity building in the field of Deposit Insurance System (DIS) in particular, and the financial system in general.
The NDIC sees partnerships as critical pathway to achieving its set goals. Currently the government agency has further expanded the scope of the workshop to accommodate members of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB).
While the CSOs were included in view of their crucial role in promoting advocacy and sensitization in support of the public awareness drive of the Corporation, ACAMB’s involvement was aimed at strengthening the media’s interface with the banks in the interest of the depositors and the larger financial system.
These sorts of alignments have significantly led to some notable achievements some of which were laid on the table by the Managing Director/Chief Executive, of the Agency Mr Bello Hassan.
In his address to participants, Hassan, noted that the Deposit Insurance System, as a critical component of the financial safety net, has continued to play critical roles in complementing the drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in promoting stability in the financial system.
According to Hassan, this becomes more significant for the NDIC with a broad mandate of Risk Minimizer and as expected, the Deposit Insurer has always been impacted by the challenges that confront the financial system at various times.
However, he pointed out that some of the challenges are universal while others are unique, but he stressed that the desire to strengthen the banks through prudential thresholds and other regulatory instruments, calls for collaboration with all relevant stakeholders in the Nigerian financial system. It is this background that informed the choice of this year’s FICAN Workshop theme: “Stocktaking of Deposit Insurance Practice: Assessing the Past, Evaluating the Present and Forecasting the Future”.
