ISLAMIC BANKING AND FINANCE: PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES ( A CASE STUDY OF JA’IZ BANK PLC)

ABSTRACT The desire and pursuit of economic advancement are natural human instincts, hence man continuously seeks to improve his standard of living; a business organization its profitability and a nation; the wellbeing of the citizens which is the prime essence of governance. It is on this note that the introduction of Islamic finance in Nigeria became necessary and because of the need of especially the Muslim communities. The purpose of this research is to investigate the challenges and opportunities of Islamic finance in Nigeria. To achieve the research objectives, survey questionnaires were administered fifty respondents including both practitioners and academics and the data were analysed using simple percentages. The findings of the study show that there are greater opportunities for Islamic finance in Nigeria in terms of the constitutional backing, market size, willingness of Nigerians to patronize and the ability of tis products and services to encourage economic diversification and financial inclusion. The major challenges are lack of awareness, inadequate shari’ah experts and insufficient regulatory frameworks. The research however concludes that Islamic finance can make headway in Nigeria only if the regulators and operators properly and objectively address the identified challenges. It is therefore recommended among others that, both the operators and regulators should collectively create more awareness about the operation of Islamic financial institutions in Nigeria.