In order to alleviate poverty and improve the living standard of the people of South-West Nigeria, it is imperative that micro/small financial services such as credit, insurance, money transfer, etc. are provided in order to engage them actively in productive activities. Globally, there are several failed policies by governments, particularly in Nigeria over the years aimed at poverty alleviation. This study examines microfinance scheme towards the dispersion of credit amongst the working poor; draws from the data collected from field survey and these were reported using tables, frequency counts and cross-tabulations to draw inferences and a loan demand model was specified and estimated using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) econometric technique.The study used cross-sectional data collected from selected respondents in selected areas of both the Lagos and Ogun States of Nigeria respectively. The study found that majority of the Microfinance banks in Nigeria are model after the Grameen Bank which is aimed at the poor and people with basic, little or no education and that loan demand is interest rate insensitive. Therefore, MFIs should design appropriate products that are flexible enough to meet the different needs of the poor for both production and consumption purposes. Besides, governments (local, state and Federal) should urgently tackle the infrastructural gaps such as electricity, water and efficient transportation system which impact greatly on the standard of living of the people.

This study investigates the impact of bank capital adequacy ratios, management and performance in the Nigerian commercial bank (1986 -2006). The objectives of this paper are: to determine to what extent bank capital adequacy ratios impact on bank performance and also to investigate the extent to which operation expenses has impacted on the return on capital. The study captured their performance indicators and employed cross sectional and time series of bank data obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Annual Report and Financial statements of the sampled banks. The formulated models were estimated using ordinary least square regression method. The overall capital adequacy ratios of the study shows that Shareholders Fund/Total Assets (SHF/TA) which measures capital adequacy of banks (risk of default) have negative impact on ROA. The efficiency of management measured by operating expenses indice is negatively related to return on capital. The implication of this study, among others, is that adequate shareholders fund can serve as a veritable stimulant in strengthening the performance of Nigerian commercial banks and also heighten the confidence of customers especially in this era of global economic meltdown that has taken its toll in the Nigerian financial system.

This research investigates leadership practice in private organisations in Nigeria. It focuses on learning about the application of leadership styles to address operational complexities in organisations. The research is based on a case study of a commercial livestock farm in Nigeria using systemic intervention as the methodology. Data collection tools, such as a workshop, semi-structured interviews, boundary setting and participant observation, were applied. Key leadership issues identified in the case study were addressed via the creation of an effective approach from different leadership underpinnings. Part of the findings is the difficulty in sustaining the implementation of a particular leadership style(s) due to unstructured nature of complexities involved in the determination of suitable leadership style at different stages of the research. The research wrapped up with the suggestion for further research on systemic leadership intervention to consider exploring the public sector, as well as the need to further review on the use of CATWOE in the research process, to avoid the occurrence of marginalisation in its apllication.

This study’s aim was to examine the influence of agricultural credit on Nigeria's economic growth for the period of 1981-2017. Data is sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin and world development indicator (WDI). The detailed objectives are to analyze the effect of the Agricultural credit guarantee scheme fund (ACGSF) and the deposit money bank credit to agric sector (DMBCA) on Nigeria's Economic Growth. Data was analyzed using the test for stationarity, Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). ARDL is adopted due to the mixed order of stationarity of the variables at levels and first difference. From the research results, it was established, in the long run, that DMBCA is significant and there exists a direct relationship, only in the short run, and the ACGSF is insignificant both the short and long run but has a direct relation in the short run and an inverse relationship in the long-run. Therefore, it is recommended, that the Federal Government should make coordinated attempts to ensure that farmers especially small-scale farmers have easy access to the financial aids and grants provided and the funds should be disbursed appropriately and adequately without any hitch.

Electronic banking has been around for some time in the form of automatic teller machines and telephone transactions. More recently, it has been metamorphosed by the Internet with a new look and delivery channel for banking services that benefits both customers and banks. The objective of this paper is to find out the correlation between the anticipated benefits/challenges and encountered benefits/challenges. This paper empirically adopted the use of survey research to explore in quantitative terms the various challenges and benefits e-business poses to Nigerian businesses, with particular reference to Banking and Finance Industry. It was found out that there is a statistically significant difference between the anticipated and encountered benefits and major challenges in the potential security breaches faced by the customers. Constant training of employees both local and international on new development in online trading should be encouraged.

The global decline in oil price has had a significant effect on the Nigerian economy especially the banking sector and this has led to some banks; revenue shortfalls, increase in their non-performing loans, layoff of staff, decrease in the bank deposit base, deterioration of the bank's asset quality, and reduction in the volume of transactions etc. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to examine the effects of the global decline in oil price on the Nigerian banking sector. Descriptive statistics and Simple linear regression was used as a tool for data analysis which was run with a pool ordinary least square and the findings revealed that there exists a positive and significant relationship between oil prices and the financial performance (three key performance indices were used to measure performance such as; profit after tax, current ratio, and net interest margin) of the banks especially in the period characterized by the decline in oil price. This paper, therefore, recommends that the government should take proactive steps to revamp the Agricultural sector by empowering our local farmers while commercial farming should be encouraged. Banks should endeavor to imbibe diversification of their investments and engage in financial innovation in order to improve their performance so as to enable them to be competitive globally.

Central to any financial institution's success is working capital management because mismanagement (WCM) can lead to its demise. This research examines the management of working capital in deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. This study evaluated the impact of liquidity on banks' performance to analyze how their competitiveness influences capital adequacy and assessed the correlation between loans and advances and deposit money banks' profitability. The study utilized a regression analysis, in which panel data was used based on data retrieved from the banks' financial statements from 2010 to 2017. The findings showed that the primary reason banks hold highly liquid assets is to guard against a rise in demand or unforeseen circumstances. Another reason is to finance working capital operations based on the theory of liquid assets. Therefore, based on the findings it is recommended that direct policies are implemented to ensure that high-volume cash transactions are dramatically reduced.Contribution/Originality: This study contributes to the existing literature by investigating working capital management and the performance of deposit money banks with the use of a pooled regression for an extended period from 2010 through 2017.

An inclusive merger mechanism became one option for the Nigerian banking industry in response to a Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy to increase the minimum paid-up share capital requirement of Nigerian banks from N2 billion to N25 billion in July 2004, with December 31, 2005 as deadline. More than half of the 89 banks in Nigeria as at July 2004 were engaged in one form of merger. The study objective gives insight into the effectiveness of economic policy reforms in the Nigerian banking industry. This study examines the merger’s impact on bank competitiveness between 2000 and 2009. The period was characterized by financial deregulation, the Global economic crisis, and bank restructuring programs. The panel data ordinary least squares approach is the methodology employed to investigate if there is any significant effect of merger on the bank competitiveness from the pre to the post merger periods, in order to detect whether bank mergers produce any performance gains as well as factors contributing to the competitiveness in the Nigerian banking industry.