By Jennete Ugo Anya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) is urging banks to strengthen risk management, corporate governance and operational resilience as technology, cyber threats, geopolitical shocks and climate risks create new vulnerabilities across the financial system.
DEVELOPMENT: Speaking at the 19th annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Abuja, Managing Director of NDIC, Mr. Thompson Sunday, said that resilience must extend beyond surviving financial shocks to anticipating and managing emerging risks.
“As the institution mandated to protect depositors’ funds and contribute to financial system stability,” Sunday said, resilience requires “strong institutions, sound risk management practices, effective corporate governance” and operational preparedness.
He also urged banks to continue financing entrepreneurship, infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing while investing in people, technology and institutional capacity.
DATA: CIBN President and Chairman of Council, Dele Alabi, said that 33 banks had met revised minimum capital requirements, raising N4.65 trillion in fresh capital.
Nigeria’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.43 percent year-on-year in Q2 2026, while Moody’s Ratings recently moved the country’s outlook from stable to positive.
SIGNIFICANCE: Stronger bank capital provides greater capacity to absorb losses and expand lending, but capital alone does not eliminate systemic vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity, fraud, data protection, operational failures, geopolitical disruptions and technology-driven concentration risks are increasingly capable of transmitting shocks across interconnected financial institutions.
Alabi said that Nigeria remains exposed to global disruptions through crude oil and gas prices, energy costs, freight, exchange rates and capital flows.
He noted that recent policies were beginning to yield results, but warned: “Yet they are milestones, not the destination.”
NEXT MOVE: Investors should watch whether stronger bank capital translates into improved credit availability to productive sectors, stronger asset quality and greater resilience to external shocks. Regulatory attention will also remain on cybersecurity, fintech risks, governance and operational preparedness.
OUR LENS: Nigeria’s banking sector has strengthened its financial buffers, but the next test is whether those buffers are matched by stronger institutional risk controls. The deeper issue is therefore shifting from capital adequacy to resilience quality. As Alabi put it, the ultimate test is whether stronger fundamentals produce “lower living costs, more jobs, higher real incomes, affordable credit” and reduced poverty.
Jennete Ugo Anya is a journalist and researcher with interests across Nigeria’s economy, public policy, business, development and strategic communications.
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