•Calls on CBN to ensure banks are healthy

From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been called upon to use it’s regulatory framework to make the work of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) much easier, by ensuring that the chances of bank failures are reduced to the barest minimum.

President of the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, (ECCIMA), Jasper Nduagwuike, who made the call in Enugu on Thursday, noted that the role of NDIC in stabilising the financial sector was very key and noteworthy. 

Speaking during the NDIC’s Day at the ongoing 34th Enugu International Trade Fare, the ECCIMA boss said,  “NDIC remains a life-line back-up for Nigerian teeming banking publics who had hitherto suffered in the past prior to the establishment of NDIC by loosing all their deposits whenever crisis occur in the banking sector, with banks closing their doors against depositors.”

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Nduagwuike while congratulating NDIC on its Special Day, commended the Corporation for the role it was playing towards building confidence amongst banks’ depositors, “thereby helping to grow the Nigerian financial sector.”

He also commended the CBN and NDIC, describing them as key players in the financial sector, “for the stability and near tranquility in the banking/financial sector through their regulatory frameworks, despite challenges being experienced in Nigeria economic cycle.”

In his address, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive of the NDIC, Bello Hassan, urged the public, particularly the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprise (MSME) sector and others in the informal sector of the economy, on the need for banking emphasizing that “the safest, smartest, and most prudent place to keep money is in the formal banking system because the NDIC protects bank deposits.

“Such deposits also enjoy the benefit of effective regulation and supervision of relevant authorities, and take people’s hard earned money beyond the ambit of illegal fund managers and loan sharks that currently awash the investment landscape and fleecing unsuspecting members of the public.”

Speaking on this year’s trade fare theme: “Harnessing Nigerian Human Capital Resources for Global Economic Advancement,” Hassan said it was  instructive to note the strong relationship between NDIC’s mandate and the theme of the fare, adding that “By discharging our public policy objectives of protecting depositors in the event of bank failures and further offering a measure of safety for the banking system, thereby creating an enabling environment for the financial system to appropriately support the economic advancement of our great nation.”