A former director and pioneer chief learning officer of NDIC Academy, Dr. Azubike Okoro, has advocated a strong financial safety-net to ensure stability and soundness of the country’s financial system.
Speaking as a prelude to the unveiling of a professional course targeted at the financial services industry known as ‘certificate in deposit protection and financial intelligence’ (CDPFI) in collaboration with the University of Nigeria Business School (UNNBS), he noted the changing dynamics in the global financial system which has reinforced the need for innovative ideas in the development, management and utilization of human resource available to the industry.
Dr Okoro, who is a learning and development specialist, and fellow, chartered institute of personnel management of Nigeria, observed that inefficiency of the financial safety-net institutions hold dire consequences for growth, soundness and stability of any economy and lamented that their unique historical and development trajectory impacted the development and availability of critical skills for pursuit of their mandates unequally. For instance, while the lender of last resort function of central banks as well as prudential supervision and regulation roles have been in existence for many centuries, deposit protection is relatively new, which account for dearth of curricula for development of professionally trained manpower. The emerging professional certificate course is designed to provide graduates foundational knowledge on the financial safety-net institutions and it is open to operators and regulators of banks, students of tertiary institutions, deposit protection practitioners, employees in financial services space and interested publics who require sound financial insights to manage daily activities. It has two levels – Basic and Advanced and they are taught by highly-rated faculty of UNNBS and ISDIS, who are experts in financial safety-net. He opined that admission is on a rolling basis and classes start four times each year. With very competitive and affordable fee structure, students graduate with exceptional insights to succeed in careers and entrepreneurships.
According to Dr AzubikeOkoro, who is the registrar and chief executive of ISDIS, the certification programme, which is the first of its kind,was conceived and developed by former bank regulators and supervisors in Nigeria, operators in the financial services industry, academia and IT experts, including adjunct faculties from other jurisdictions who saw the yawning manpower gap in the critical sector of the economy and the urgent need to bridge it on a global scale.
Speaking in the same vein, another director of ISDIS and dean, Advisory, Dr Joshua James Etopidiok, commended the management of UNN Business School for embracing the idea of partnership with ISDIS to establish a world-class programme for training professionals to meet the needs of financial services industry players. According to him, the choice of UNN Business School for the collaborative programme was informed by its globally acclaimed reputation as a centre of academic and professional excellence. He noted that the programme would leverage hugely from the highly experienced academic manpower of the university, and the expertise of retired top-level financial industry operators, stressing that it is a marriage of academic and practical experience designed to provide broad-based professional training.
Another ISDIS director, and dean, research, Dr Kingsley Nwaigwe, who is a Fellow of the chartered institute of bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, expressed optimism that the programme, which is expected to commence in March, will add immense value to the financial system locally and overseas. He assured that the quality of certificate to be issued would rank satisfactorily with related credentials and it would be in conformity with global standard.
ISDIS’s one-stop digital platform which is powered by Saphital Learning, and its internal and external faculty, according to another director and Dean, Technology, Mr. Amu Ogbeide, shall avail students with in-depth knowledge on financial safety-net through an interactive and blended learning processes in collaboration with local and international partners and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Also, partnership with UNNBS provides enrollees globally with multi-route to qualify as core professionals in the financial services industry space. The management team of ISDIS is led by vibrant professionals, including Dr AzubikeOkoro (Registrar/CE), Mr Amu Ogbeide (Dean, Technology), Dr. Joshua J Etopidiok (Dean, Advisory), Mrs SeyiOnosanya (Dean, Academics/Business), Dr Kingsley O. Nwaigwe (Dean, Research) and Eberechi Okereke (Dean, Corporate Development)
The UNN Business School is a graduate business school owned by the University of Nigeria, dedicated to providing academic and professional education. Governed by a Board and chaired by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, its daily operations are overseen by a dynamic management team led by the Director, Professor Josaphat U.J. Onwumere.
Amongst other principal officers working with the director are Prof Chuka U. Ifediora, Coordinator, Certificate Programmes, Prof IfeomaC. Nwakoby, Coordinator, Executive Master’s Programmes and Rev.Fr. Ass. Prof. Anthony Igwe, Coordinator, Executive Doctoral Programmes.