ESTABLISHMENT AND MEMBERSHIP
The West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) was established on July 22, 1996 by the constituent Central Banks : The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone and became operational in January, 1997.

MISSION OF THE INSTITUTE
The principal objective of the Institute is to build capacity for macroeconomic and financial management in the countries of its member central banks.

LOCATION
The Institute is located in Lagos, Nigeria

 

 

GOVERNANCE
At the apex of the organizational structure of the Institute is the Board of Governors, consisting of the Governors of the member central banks. The Board appoints a Director General who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Institute and doubles as Secretary to the Board.
Dr. Chris.O. Itsede was the founding Director General of the Institute. He retired in January 2009, and has been replaced by Professor Akpan H. Ekpo who is the current Director General of the Institute.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
The Technical Committee consists of representatives of central banks and ministries of finance. It assists the Board of Governors by setting its agenda and preparing the presentations to be discussed by the Board.

MANAGEMENT AND STAFFING

The Institute has a small staff complement, reflecting the Board’s desire to draw on outside experts to assist in the design and delivery of training courses and workshops.

The Director General and four directors constitute the Institute’s Management team and meet regularly to coordinate the day-to-day work of the Institute.

Click here to view profiles of the current management and professional staff.

 

 

TARGET AUDIENCE
The Institute's programmes are targeted at senior/executive level officials of:

  • Central Banks
  • Ministries of Finance
  • Ministries of Economic Planning
  • Other Public Sector Agencies involved in economic and financial policy formulation and management, e.g. National Parliaments, Presidency, special economic management units, etc.
  • Relevant Private Sector Institutions.
  • Civil Society

 

FUNCTIONS OF THE INSTITUTE

  • Sponsor or conduct seminars, training courses and consultative fora on central banking and macroeconomic issues;
  • Support, design and implement programmes for the training of suitably qualified staff from the region;
  • Publish and disseminate information on central banking and macroeconomic policies in the region;
  • Identify, design and promote networks of researchers, analysts, managers and professional associations;
  • Collaborate with national, bilateral and multilateral training or other institutions consistent with the objectives of WAIFEM;
  • Carry out such activities which may advance the purposes of WAIFEM.

 

 

COURSE STRUCTURE
The Institute's training programmes are essentially user-driven and geared towards the enhancement of knowledge and technical skills for macroeconomic and financial policy analysis and management among the core staff of the user institutions.

Demand driven programmes of contemporary and specific relevance are also organized by the Institute at the request of user institutions. Some courses are modular, with flexibility for follow-up programmes; this minimizes loss of executive time while providing opportunities for the upgrading of knowledge and skills. While some of the courses and workshops of WAIFEM are generic in nature, every effort is made to customize course contents and training materials to reflect specific issues of concern to West African countries.

RESOURCE PERSONS
WAIFEM operates with a largely non-residential faculty in order to retain the flexibility to engage appropriate expertise for the programmes on offer. Preference is given to consultants from the West African sub-region, but international experts are engaged where local ones are unavailable in the relevant specializations.

 

 

PROGRAMMES DELIVERY VENUES
Most training programmes are conducted at the Institute in Lagos, Nigeria.

Courses are also conducted in other countries of the member central banks in order to provide participants with first hand knowledge of the environment, resource endowment and developmental experiences of the different countries in the sub-region.

The concept of rotation of course venue also offers opportunities for enhanced participation by officials from the country hosting a regional course.