SEDPI’s relations with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) were born in 2007, when top CBN executives attended a training course of the Ateneo Microfinance Capacity Building Program. Very satistfied with the practice of microfinance in the Philippines, CBN and NDIC decided to offer the Ateneo Diploma Course in Microfinance to their own management staff.

SEDPI management then flew to Nigeria to train about 180 management staff of CBN and NDIC. The diploma program was composed of the courses Fundamentals and Methodologies of Microfinance, Market-based Financial Product Design and Development, Delinquency Management, Financial Analysis, Risk Management, and Human Resource. Because the courses were all evaluated as excellent, both organizations invited SEDPI to run the Ateneo Diploma Course in Nigeria in the years to come.

To build the capacity of Nigerian microfinance banks, CBN also organized the groundbreaking event Interim Capacity Building for Microfinance Operators. SEDPI management played a crucial role as resource speakers in the event, and they also conducted training in Lagos, Minna, and Ibadan to approximately 400 representatives of Nigerian microfinance banks.

Nigeria is one of the largest countries in Africa in terms of land area and population. Nevertheless, according to the United Nations Human Development Index, 90% of Nigeria’s population live on only USD2 per day. Through microfinance and other development interventions, CBN and NDIC seek to lift the living standards of their people.