CHAPTER ONE      

                                                INTRODUCTION        

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY            

 Banks are critically important and useful to the economic growth and 

 development of every nation. This explains why each country seeks to take 

 far reaching steps to forestall or to remedy bank distress and failure. A viable 

 and profitable banking system provides a formidable bulwark for economic 

 growth, which in turn provides a healthy environment for banks to thrive and 

 be successful. According to Ehikmeaku (1998), a well developed and stable 

 banking system is a sine-qua non for economic growth and development.   

In addition to the intermediation rule, a nation’s banking system links the 

 domestic economy with the rest of the world by providing the means for the 

 settlement of international transactions. It has been observed that growth in 

 banking sector, if transmitted well, would result to the growth of real sector 

 and the opposite occurs if the financial sector is repressed and inefficient. 

Banking distress occurs when a bank experiences and is faced with illiquidity  

 or insolvency (Ehikmeaku(1998). The problem of liquidity occurs when a 

 bank can no longer meet it’s liabilities when due, while insolvency occurs  

 when the value of its realizable asset is less than the total value of liabilities. 

 Both scenarios are fraught with a lot of consequences for the depositors,   

 shareholders and the entire economic system. With widespread distress that    

 eventually leads to bank failures, depositors loose their lifetime savings and  

 shareholders loose their investments. Furthermore, bank failures may lead to 

 a lossof confidence in the banking system which is a bottleneck to the  

 development of banking habit among a population to which banking business  

 largely appears as an alien activity. Bank failures also results in the cutting 

 off of credit to enterprises desirous of such credits for expansions and  

 curtailment of the numerous services that banks provide to their clients with

 adverse consequences on economic growth. Apart from posing as a

means of mobilizing domestic household and business sector savings for

profitable  investment, a well- developed banking system with positive

real interest rate    has great potentials to attract foreign investments, thus

enhancing the nation’s   rapid economic development.   

 Between 1989 and 2002 the incidence of distress on Nigeria’s banking  

 industry worsened from 10 percent to 50 percent. The Central Bank of 

 Nigeria revoked the operating licenses of 35 terminally distressed banks 

 within that period. 4 in 1994, 2 in 1995, 26 in 1998, 2 in 2000 and 1 in 2002. 

 The liquidation of the banks that failed in spite of efforts by supervisory  

 authorities (CBN and NDIC) to manage their liquidity problems was 

 necessary in order to contain the contagious effect of bank failure in the 

 economy.   

A number of banks in the economy witnessed an increased number such that

 between 1986 and 1988 the number of banks increased form 42 to 66. With

 the increased competition between banks fuelled by deregulation, fears of  

 banking failures increased and the federal government of Nigeria established  

 the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) through Decree act of No. 

 22 of 1988. The federal government conceived the NDIC as an institution to

 act as a financial guarantee to depositors in the event of bank failures and also

 to add weight to the existing supervisory and control capabilities of the

 monetary authorities, Olaitan (1988). 

The theory underlying the relationship between banking stability and 

 economic growth is well known. Gurley and Shaw (1976), among others, 

 observes strong evidence of a positive correlation between real growth of 

 output and bank assets.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM   

The Nigerian banking sector has undergone more distress and reforms than 

 any other sector of the Nigerian economy. Therefore, a well functioning

banking system promotes rapid economic growth and development. While a

banking system that is fraught with massive failures and distress, leading to

asset depletion, would impede economic growth and development. The

uncertainty generated as a result of distress in banking institutions, if left

unchecked, often raises real interest rates, creates higher cost of transaction

and disrupts the payment mechanism with the attendant economic

consequences.  

The extent and depth of the banking distress can be of serious concern to the  

relevant supervisory/regulatory authorities when its prevalence and the 

 contagious effects become endemic and pose threats to the stability of the 

 entire system, savings mobilization, and financial intermediation process and  

 depositors confidence, Balino (1991). The ratios of relevant variables should 

 have risen to a level that public confidence in the system would be 

 completely eroded.  

The condition of the bank distress in Nigeria from 1980-2009 has been 

 attributed to a variety of causes ranging from institutional, social, economic 

 and political factors. According to Ezeuduji (1997), the real causes of distress  

 in individual banks lies in the way they manage their portfolios under existing  

 circumstances. Poor portfolio management by banks is viewed as the 

 primary cause of bank distress and failure in Nigeria at the period under  

 review. While those factors that inhibited the efficiency of portfolio 

 management constitute the secondary or remote causes. According to him, 

 portfolio management was characterized by lax supervision of corporate  

 governance among banks lending to wholesome and unethical banking  

 practices by some bank chief executives without recourse to the board of  

 directors, granting of huge credit facilities without adequate securities

 commensurate with such facilities. This led to the accumulation of non-

 performing loans which turned out to be bad and doubtful debts.  

1.3    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY    

The main objectives of this research are to ascertain the effect of bank distress

on Nigeria’s economic growth. The specific objectives of this study are: 

1.      To identify the immediate causes of the banking sector crises.   

2.      To identify and analyse the effects of bank distress on Nigeria’s          

         economic growth.  

3.      To analyse the roles of monetary authorities CBN/NDIC during the

         period.

  4.    To make appropriate recommendations based on the findings of the         

          study.

1.4     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY  

The significance of the study includes:  

1.      The research work will contribute immensely to academic works, as it is 

         a contribution to the body of knowledge on the effect of bank distress on 

         the financial system and the economy at large. It would also aid other  

         researchers to carry out more studious research on areas not covered by 

         this study.    

2.      This study will also help financial analysts, financial consultants and

         professionals alike to improve their analytical, consulting and

         operational strategies to boost their clients’ performance in the face of

         bank distress and likely recapitalization of banks.  

3.      This study will also help the banking industry by highlighting the areas

          that need improvement in their existing operations and corporate

          governance and it’s impact on the bank’s liquidity.  

4.      This research will also be useful to the government (CBN, NDIC in

particular) in enhancing it’s regulatory and supervisory roles as well as

formulation of policies to strengthen the financial system being the

determinant of economic stability and liability. Finally, the research will help

the government to put in place measures to ensure good governance and risk

management in the banking sector of the Nigerian economy.   

1.5     RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS  

In order to pursue the objectives of the study, we thereby formulate the 

 following hypothesis. 

Ho:     The distress in the banking sector has no adverse effect on the growth

            of GDP in Nigeria.   

Hi:      The distress in the banking sector has an adverse effect on the growth

          of GDP in Nigeria.

1.6     SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY  

For the purpose of this study, attention is focused on the effects of bank

distress on Nigeria’s economic growth  from 1980-2009, to capture the major

 bank crisis in Nigeria.        

For the limitations of this study, the major constraints of the research were

sourcing relevant information from banks concerning bank distress and how it

has impacted on their performance. Most of these banks were unwilling to

release such information considered as critical to their survival and

maintaining shareholders and public confidence.      

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