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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that a lot still needs to be done in sanitising the country’s banking system.
He also called for fresh ideas on how to address non-per- forming loans (NPLs).
But the Chairperson of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, pleaded with the Vice President to assist in speedy passage of the corporation’s Amendment Bill pending before the Senate
Osinbajo, who spoke while receiving the Board and Management of the NDIC during a courtesy visit, said the government was not ready to repeat the mistakes of the past.
A statement by the Head, Communications and Public Affairs Department, Mohammed Kudu Ibrahim, said the Vice President assured the new board being led by Mrs. Sokefun of support.
The statement read: “The Vice President noted that a lot still needs to be done in the area of sanitising the banking system.
“He also stressed the need for fresh ideas to produce a more resilient structure involving the NDIC and other relevant stakeholders to ad- dress the issue of Non-per- forming loans in the industry and warned that the Federal Government was not prepared to repeat the mistakes of the past. “On the issue of
financial inclusion, the Vice President remarked that it was desirous for millions of poor Nigerians to be empowered through the extension of credit and urged for a sustainable framework to achieve the objectives set by the regulators.
“He expressed concerns over the current structure for the operation of Micro- Finance Banks (MFBs) had failed to achieve the desired goals and called for concerted efforts of the relevant institutions including CBN and NDIC to come up with a framework that would facilitate the funding of Federal Government social intervention programs such as the N-Power, Trader-Money, and Market-Money so as to alleviate the suffering of mil- lions of Nigerians”.
Earlier, Mrs. Sokefun had thanked the Vice President for his warm reception.
She recalled that the NDIC as “a critical player in the Nigerian financial safetynet, had achieved remarkable success in the execution of its primary mandates of effective supervision of the insured banks, timely payment of insured deposits and the implementation of a robust and efficient failure resolution regime. The Chairperson drew the attention of the Vice-President to the NDIC Amendment Bill currently pending before the Senate.
She solicited for his assistance in ensuring a quick passage of the Bill before the expiry of the present legislative session. In his remarks, the MD/CEO of the Corporation, Umaru Ibrahim, said the speedy passage the Bill to amend the NDIC Act would “strengthen the capacity of the Corporation effectively to supervise insured financial institutions for a safe and sound banking system in the country.
On the activities of the Corporation, the NDIC boss informed the Vice President that it “undertakes periodic examination of banks in collaboration with the CBN and issues reports with far reaching recommendations to the Boards of banks for compliance to ensure the safety, soundness and stability of the Nigerian banking system.
The MD/CEO recalled the efforts of the regulatory/ supervisory authorities to sanitize and strengthen the micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs).
He said “enhanced capital requirements of MFBs and the establishment of a National Microfinance Bank will enable that subsector to play their role of providing credit.”
