Good, bad, and ugly sides of Nigerian banks
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics: “The history of modern Banking in Nigeria dates back to 1892 with the establishment of the African Banking Corporation in Lagos. In 1894, the Bank of British West Africa (now First Bank) took over the Africa Banking Corporation. The Bank for British West Africa remained the only bank in Nigeria until 1912 when Barclays Bank (now Union Bank) was set up. Subsequently, other banks came on-stream. Until 1959, the banking industry in Nigeria was largely unregulated. Thus, there were no reliable and organised data on the monetary sub-sector. As the country approached independence, the Central Bank of Nigeria was founded, on 1st July, 1959. According to Section 4 of the 1958 CBN Ordinance, one of the principal objectives of the bank is “to promote monetary stability and a sound financial structure in Nigeria”. Privatisation and commercialisation happened early for the Nigeria’s banking sector. Owing bank accounts was elitist until 1990s. Recal