Ecobank Nigeria Academy gets CIBN award September 21, 2020   The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has rated Ecobank Nigeria Academy as one of the best banking training institutes in the country. In 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. Commenting, 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  Opeoluwa who is also the head of 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 certificate of accreditation to the ultra-modern, state of the art Ecobank Nigeria Academy last year, CIBN said the accreditation 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. According to the Institute, “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 comply with the provisions of the Competency Framework but also strengthen the intellectual resources and capabilities available in the bank.”  The state of the art academy Ecobank Academy is a deliberate policy by Ecobank to train and equip its workforce is 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 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.