An Examination of the Legal Regime of Corporate Governance in the Nigerian Banking Sector

Abstract

The period heralding the new millennium witnessed great flurry of activities in the Nigerian banking industry. The activities, which were spearheaded by the statutory regulatory authority in the industry – the Central Bank of Nigeria - were claimed to be directed not only at expanding the service delivery frontiers of banks in the country in positioning them to meet the ever unfolding challenges of a volatile world economy, but targeted also at carrying out far reaching reforms in the banking sector which at that time had descended into the depth of seemingly irredeemable impasse. For all the stakeholders in the sector; spanning the regulated, the regulator, the customers and the board/management of the banks, it was a period, stressful in its roots, and harrowing in its magnitudes. What began at that time as a salutary step of purification may well be suitable at the present for an objective assessment of the proceeds. This paper seeks to discover the objectives of the reforms and whether the aims of the proponents and executors of the reforms been achieved or not, especially when juxtaposed against the background of damming allegations of self-serving and un-altruistic motive as impelling factors for the exercise. The discussions entertained in this article are presented with the aim of provoking further discussions about the future of the concept of corporate governance in Nigeria, especially in the banking sector. A desk-based review methodology of the literature on Nigerian banking history and laws to access public and industry perceptions on corporate governance of the banking industry would be employed and a thematic subtitling for the dissemination of findings divided into four broad sections, that is, concept analysis, historical trajectory of the business of banking particularly as extended to Nigeria, corporate governance and the challenges faced in its application in the Nigerian economic environment and a critical evaluation of the role played by regulatory authorities in respect of corporate bodies subject to dual regulation by the provisions of the CAMA and their own archetypical legislations would be employed. It is hoped that the ultimate aim of the article in inviting attention to the outcomes of the application of the principles of corporate governance to the banking industry in Nigeria would be achieved.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Banking, Banking Sector in Nigeria