BANK’S CREDIT & ADVANCES AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY

ABSTRACT This research work was titled “Bank’s Credit & Advances and the performance of the Nigerian Economy” and the general objective for this study is to establish the effect of bank’s credit and advances and the performance of the Nigeria economy. However, the recapitalization of the banking sector in Nigeria since 2005 has brought about a total change in commercial bank lending behavior and credit management in Nigeria. With the growth in entrepreneurial activities in Nigeria, the demand for bank loans is at the increase. Small and medium scale business owners are constantly looking for business credit to expand their operations and sustain their businesses. This gap between business owners demanding for bank loans and the in-ability of commercial banks to totally remedy the situation is disturbing and needs proper attention from the government. This study uses secondary data sources. The study was conducted through a Historical Research Design in accessing aggregated data for the research and used this technique to obtain data from the central bank statistical bulletin, annual reports and audited financial accounts of all the existing deposit money banks from 2015 to 2024. The simple regression of OLS estimation is obtained from E-view 9 used for the purpose of the analysis. The stationary of the time series is tested using the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) Unit Root Test, Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LMTest, Heteroscedasticity Test was done and correlation with covariance. Amongst other proffered solutions, it was recommended that Banks must put in place sound credit-granting process, strictly hold fast to Know Your Customer (KYC) system, applying effective measures in measuring and monitoring of credit and ensure effective controls over credit risk. Nigerian deposit money banks should be well capitalized even without the “regulatory eyes” of the authority.