By Adedapo Adesanya
Ecobank Nigeria Academy, after the first year of its establishment, has been ranked as one of the best banking training institutes in the country, according to the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
This was at its award ceremony as part of its 13th Annual Banking and Finance Conference in Abuja last week.
CIBN, the umbrella body of all employees of financial institutions in the country, announced Ecobank Nigeria Academy as the third-best among all the banks in the country.
Since the accreditation of the state-of-the-art Ecobank Nigeria Academy in August 2019, it has served as a platform to train thousands of professional bankers in different categories, including Entry Level employees, Graduate and Management Trainees and a cross-section of staff recertification training.
Speaking on the recognition, Mr Ayotunde Opeoluwa, Manager, Learning and Development, Ecobank Nigeria, said the award was a welcome development to the bank as the Academy was only accredited a year ago, stating that the bank will continue to churn out excellently trained banking professionals at various levels.
Mr Opeoluwa, who also heads the Academy, further said “This is good news for us as a bank. It reinforces our people-centric strategy to equipping our staff with the right skills and competence in line with global practices.
“Let me use this opportunity to thank our management for the great support and members of our internal faculty for their dedication toward achieving this milestone. We will continue to seek improvement to maintain industry and global standards.”
In presenting the certificate of accreditation to the ultra-modern, state-of-the-art Ecobank Nigeria Academy last year, CIBN said the decision was based on the report of its Capacity Building and Certification Committee that the training school has met all the parameters of measurement, stressing that it was a manifestation of the importance the Management of the bank place on capacity building of its workforce.
“As an Institute, we congratulate Ecobank for the accreditation of its Academy. This comes after rigorous accreditation processes by members of our Capacity Building and Certification Committee which showed that Ecobank has complied with and satisfied the provisions and requirements of the Competency framework for the Nigerian Banking Industry as mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through CIBN.
“The Academy was found to have scored above the threshold on all the parameters of measurement. We firmly believe this accreditation would not only enable Ecobank to comply with the provisions of the Competency Framework but also strengthen the intellectual resources and capabilities available in the bank,” it said.
The Ecobank Academy is a deliberate policy by Ecobank to train and equip its workforce in line with its transformation drive to make the bank the most preferred financial institution in the country.
As a response to COVID-19, the Academy has recently organised a virtual graduation ceremony for 53 Management Trainees and 57 graduate trainees following an intensive training programme. The trainees have since been absolved into the bank as full-time employees.
