By Ngozi Onyeakusi– The International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) has lauded the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for proposing the establishment of the African Center for Deposit Insurance (ACDI) to be domiciled in the NDIC Academy, Abuja. IADI was formed in May 2002 to enhance the effectiveness of deposit insurance systems by promoting guidance and international cooperation.
NDIC got the commendation at the recent Annual General Meeting of the IADI Africa Regional Committee (ARC) chaired by the ARC Chairperson and NDIC MD/Chief Executive, Umaru Ibrahim. The online meeting was attended by representatives of Nine (9) member countries of ARC (Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe)  as well as the IADI Secretary General, David Walker and Keehyun Park of the IADI Secretariat Basel, Switzerland.

While praising the NDIC for accepting to spearhead the establishment of the Centre, members agreed that the Centre should commence with online programmes in 2021 due to the current Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.The planned Center is expected to provide training and enhance the capacity for the staff of member countries on the continent.
Members were also delighted with the proposed ARC Publication which is designed to document the experiences and challenges of Deposit Insurance System (DIS) in Africa while endorsing the setting up of a Committee composed of Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Morocco to coordinate the collation of information from member countries to be used in the compilation of the publication.
Issues arising from the country reports provided by ARC member countries centred on the need for continuous capacity building; enhanced public awareness; prompt depositor Reimbursement/pay-out; and stepping-up of supervision of insured institutions.

The outgoing NDIC Chief Executive thanked the IADI Secretary General for his continuous support to the ARC. As this was his final ARC meeting, he expressed sincere gratitude to members for supporting him during his 3 years tenure as the ARC Chairperson and asked them to continue the collaboration to drive the growth of deposit insurance in Africa.
MD/CEO of Deposit Protection Fund of Zimbabwe, Vusi Vuma, expressed his appreciation and gratitude to Ibrahim on behalf of all the regional members for the stewardship, guidance and support that the NDIC always extends to all the regional members.