FITC will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary in September 2011. As part of its corporate communication and stakeholder engagement strategy, the management team of FITC held a press conference at its Lagos office, located at 164/166 Murtala Mohammed Way, Ebute Metta Yaba to unveil its plans for marking this milestone anniversary.
To clarify reasons for the anniversary celebration, the MD/CEO of FITC, Dr (Mrs) Lucy Surhyel Newman, said “in line with previous corporate communications over the past one year, this press release is designed to unveil plans for the line-up of activities surrounding the milestone anniversary celebration.” She explained further that; “It may be recalled that FITC is a professional services firm owned by the Nigerian Bankers’ Committee as composed of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) , the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC), all the deposit money banks and Discount houses in Nigeria. It was established in 1981 as a special purpose not for profit professional services organisation to provide professional services support in training, consulting and research to the Financial Services Sector and related sectors of the Nigerian economy. FITC’s mandate has over the years, positioned it as a reference professional services firm in matters relating to the Acquisition, Management and Development of the human capital to the operators and regulators in the Nigerian Financial System, primarily. It operates from Abuja and Lagos through three strategic service lines namely FITC Training, FITC Consulting and FITC Research. In terms of geographical coverage of its services, FITC has, within these 30 years become a regional player, offering its core services to both regulators and operators within the West African sub region and growing into the larger Sub-Saharan Region within the next few years. It has over the years, also nurtured viable alliances with some of the leading training, consulting and research brands to offer best in class services to its stakeholders, that is in line with global standards, yet contextualised to the local environment”.
According to Dr Newman, “there is as such, every cause to mark FITC’s 30 years of successful operation and growth; the Board, Management and Staff of FITC feel that this is a period of reflection, stocktaking and appreciation of stakeholders that have contributed in one way or the other, to making the firm successful. It is also going to be a period of re-strategizing for the future, in context of current and emerging sector specific challenges within the domestic, regional and international arena.
The line-up of events to mark this milestone anniversary which culminates into the event on September 8, 2011 includes:
The unveiling of the 30th anniversary logo, specially designed and aligned to the FITC brand to commemorate the anniversary. The Management arrived at the special anniversary logo after a process of voting involving all members of staff of the FITC. The process, which lasted for about one month involved the FITC Design Studio and Productions Unit developing different logo design options and presenting them to staff to consider. The final logo was arrived at after four runs of different design options and improvements, as well as voting by all staff of FITC at the Head office and our Abuja liaison office. The intention is to temporarily replace the existing FITC corporate logo with this special anniversary logo from the date of press release till one year after the anniversary celebration, terminating September 2012. The anniversary logo will be displayed at both Lagos and Abuja FITC office premises and in all FITC’s official communication documents, including the letter headed paper, envelopes and brochures.
A national essay competition on “The Role of the Financial Services Sector (FSS) in national development: The FITC mandate and opportunities for FITC going forward” for SS III Students in Nigerian Secondary Schools who are inclined to study finance related courses in tertiary institutions. FITC’s aspiration for this is to get young adults interested in the Nigerian Financial System, with possibility of studying a finance related course, thus encouraging future generations to pursue a career in the sector. This was one of the cardinal points of the Pius Okigbo Committee of 1976, which led to introduction of finance related courses in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions and other initiatives including the creation of FITC in 1981 by the then Federal Government of Nigeria. The adverts for the completion debuts on Monday August 1, 2011 and submissions close August 26th 2011.
In furtherance of FITC’s mandate of enhancing capacity and facilitating knowledge advancement in the Nigerian Financial Services Sector and economy in general, FITC has invited two renowned speakers from the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL), USA, to lead discussion with presentations on “The Rise and Fall of Global Business Empires: Leadership Lessons for Nigerian Organizations”. The paper will then be discussed by two revered experts in the industry, in context of the environment and evolution of the domestic and international financial services sector. The discussion session will then be followed by contributions from the CEOs of the five regulatory institutions in the Nigerian financial system, who will respond to issues raised by the presenters and discussants from their sectors’ perspectives. The Lecture is expected to hold during the morning session of the anniversary on September 8, 2011.
Publication of four thought leadership and policy influencing monographs and journals. These will be launched during the anniversary lecture, scheduled for the morning session on September 8, 2011.
Award ceremony that will enable FITC to recognize and award deserving individual and corporate stakeholders that have made remarkable contributions and given support towards the sustenance of the FITC mandate over the past 30 years. The first, second and third position winners from the essay and quiz completion at the national level will also be presented their prizes during the award ceremony, which is scheduled for the afternoon session on September 8, 2011.
An International Global Content Workshop for Heads of Human Resources Management and Training functions of FITC’s ‘owner’ institutions and key stakeholders. This is FITC’s 1st Global Content Complimentary Workshop for its Members, which has the theme: ‘Organizations of the Future, the Role of Talent’. This full day workshop is scheduled for September 21, 2011, in Lagos.
Dignitaries expected to grace the anniversary celebration on September 8,2011 include the Chief Executive Officers and Executive Management of Regulatory Agencies within Nigeria and the West African Region, MD/CEOs of Banks and Discount Houses, other players in the financial services sector, FITC’s strategic partners within and outside Nigeria, FITC’s Associate Consultants and Facilitating Faculty, Current and Former employees, as well as various stakeholder categories and friends of FITC over the past 30 years.
