Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has reaffirmed its commitment to talent development and stronger collaboration between academia and industry through its Executive Industry Immersion Challenge programme organised in partnership with Nile Business School.
The four-day programme, held at the NDIC Head Office in Abuja, was designed to expose Executive MBA participants of Nile University of Nigeria to real-world institutional processes and governance systems within Nigeria’s financial sector.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NDIC, Thompson Oludare Sunday, described the initiative as a strategic response to the growing disconnect between classroom learning and workplace realities.
According to him, the rapidly changing global business environment requires professionals who possess both theoretical knowledge and practical understanding of corporate and public sector operations.
“The Executive Industry Immersion Challenge has provided the NDIC with the opportunity of a practical platform to expose participants to real-world experience in policy formulation, institutional governance, and public sector management,” he said.
The NDIC boss also reaffirmed the corporation’s mandate as a critical financial safety-net institution responsible for promoting financial system stability and strengthening depositor confidence in Nigeria’s banking sector.
He urged participants to embrace values that would shape their leadership journey, stressing that sustainable institutions are built on integrity, transparency, ethical conduct, and sound governance practices.
According to him, public confidence can only be maintained when these principles consistently guide institutional decision-making and operational behaviour.
Project Coordinator of the programme and Director of Research, Policy and International Relations at NDIC, Ibrahim Aliyu, said the immersion challenge was intentionally structured as an experiential learning platform to bridge the gap between academic theory and industry practice.
He explained that participants are being exposed to practical institutional processes, policy development frameworks, and governance mechanisms within one of Nigeria’s key financial regulators.
Also speaking, Dean of the Nile Business School, Hauwa Lamido, who was represented by Festus Ekechi, said the institution partnered with NDIC because of its strong reputation for professionalism, integrity, and sound corporate governance.
He added that the school plans to integrate major lessons from the programme into its academic curriculum to help students translate classroom knowledge into practical workplace competence.
The programme is expected to strengthen leadership capacity among emerging business professionals while deepening collaboration between regulatory institutions and higher education in Nigeria.
