NDIC amendment bill aimed at promoting efficiency – MD

Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, the Managing Director of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, in Abuja on Tuesday said the bill to amend the corporation’s Act was aimed at enhancing the institution’s efficiency and effectiveness.
Ibrahim said this at a public hearing on a bill for an Act to repeal the NDIC Act 2006 and re-enact the NDIC Act 2014.
The hearing was organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency.
“The essence of the review of the enabling Act is to enable the corporation carry out its mandate effectively and efficiently,” Ibrahim said.
He said the corporation would require the necessary legal backing to protect depositors’ money and safeguard the country’s financial system.
He stressed that with an appropriate financial safety net in place, depositors’ confidence would be enhanced while the likelihood of financial crises would be reduced to the barest minimum.
Ibrahim also said that emerging challenges in the operation of the deposit insurance scheme in Nigeria necessitated the need to review the 2006 Act.
He said: “Efforts to amend the 2006 Act intensified in 2009 following the global economic meltdown, which threatened the stability of our financial system, particularly the banking sector.
“The instability caused by the meltdown gave rise to the need for review of the legal frame work for deposit insurance in most jurisdictions.”
Ibrahim said the review would empower the corporation to address the emerging challenges in the sector.
The proposed amendment will facilitate prompt payment of insured deposits by reducing time of reimbursement from 90 days to 60 days.
It will also increase funding for the corporation to be able to carry out its core mandate of deposit insurance, while also giving it powers to deal with directors and officers who cause the failure of an insured institution.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, who declared the occasion opened, said the proposed review was in line with best practices.
Represented by the Deputy House Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, Tambuwal charged stakeholders to make robust contributions aimed at producing an enduring Act.
In a remark, the Chairman of the committee, Hon. Jones Onyereri (PDP-Imo), said the bill was aimed at further strengthening NDIC’s operations.
Onyereri said that the House would continue to work with relevant authorities to strengthen the country’s financial sector.
“We will continue to work with the relevant authorities and the general public in strengthening our financial sector,” he said.
Other stakeholders at the hearing were the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and private individuals.