SPIRAL GROWTH OF BANKS IN NIGERIA MANPOWER AND SOLUTIONS

In Nigeria, commercial and merchant banking date back to 1894 when the Bank of British West Africa (BBWA) was established and 1960 when Philip Hill (Nigeria) limited and Nigeria acceptances limited were set up.  Since thus, the general profile of the Nigeria banking industry has transformed in various dimensions, and particularly, the growth in terms of number has been quite phenomenal.  Thus, the number of  commercial and merchant banks in the country comes to 120 (with 2076 branches) as at the end of December, 1994 according to reports released by the central Bank of Nigeria.  This was unexpected because various policies put in place so as to achieve a realistic exchange rate for naira disrupted price levels.  Another reason for the increase in number of banks is the widening of the sphere which banks could operate.  The general deregulation permits banks to do lot more business and particularly the distribution between merchant and commercial banking. Therefore, the upsurge in number of bank itself is a positive development because more people are now aware of banking services than before .  but the rapid expansion that has been envisaged above in the number of banks and their branches would no doubt require greater bank manpower throughout the system.  Bank management quite unlike the management of other business, is a specialized profession because its stock in trade (i.e. money) s so easy to defalcate.  Therefore, it calls for people of extremely high caliber and good training.  It is therefore, against this background that he researcher wishes to x-ray the manpower implications of this spiral growth of banks in Nigeria with a view to identify the problems and offer solutions.
 
There is little doubt that he growth expansion and changing of commercial and merchant banking activities in Nigeria within the past decade has been a reflection of development within the economy itself.  Yet a careful study of this distressful conclusion is needed.  Bank frauds have taken new dimensions with bank operators being at the root of it all. Also the bank’s Chief executives have become reckness in spending to rent for themselves building of official accommodation, acquire fleets of expensive cars and employ a routine of domestic servants or staffs.  Their salaries and fringe benefits cannot, obviously, be supported by the present level of the national economy.  It therefore, appears that the manpower resource base available to the banking industry has not been developed at a sufficient rate to math the growth of the industry.  The management environment of many banks particularly among the newly established ones is often characterized by the existence of under exposed key management personnel drafted into service from some other institutions.  The depreciation of managerial quality has led to weak internal control, contravention of statutory regulations, bank portfolio problem, unethical credit policies and other unacceptable practices.  These therefore underline the need for an investigative study.
 
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
A research into the spiral growth of banks in Nigeria manpower problems and solutions especially as it relates to commercial and merchant banks is a worthwhile venture.
The purpose of this study is to actually highlight the spiral growth of banks in Nigeria manpower problems and solutions.  In view of the above, the research objectives are summarized below.
1. To find out the institutional arrangements available to the sector for the development of the industry manpower.
2. To ascertain whether the manpower resource base that are available to the banking industry has been developed in a sufficient rate to match the growth of the industry.
3. To identify the problems encountered by banks as a result of the inadequate manpower, and 
4. To proffer solutions on how to match the manpower resource base of banks with the growth of the industry.
 
For the purpose of this study the following hypothesis are to be tested.
a. The institutional arrangements the banking industry utilize in the development of manpower resource base for the industry
b. The manpower available to the banking industry are adequate to match the growth of the industry
c. The extent to which the institutional training programmers contributed to the insufficiency of manpower in the banking industry
d. The insufficiency of manpower resulted in producing of trained bank staffs and shooting of high compensation levels.
 
The benefits to be derived from this study cannot be overemphasized.  The research is aimed at offering an insight into the spiral growth of banks in Nigeria to identify the manpower problems and thereby proffering solutions for improvement.  It will reveal whether the manpower resource base available to banks has been developed at a sufficient rate to match the growth of the industry.  Such result can be used by both the government and the banking industry in evolving on efficient and effective manpower planning strategies. This research would also be a source of information for investors in the banking industry, educationist, readers of this study and staff of bank.
 
This research is concerned with spiral growth of commercial and merchant banks in Nigeria manpower problems and solutions.  It excludes the central Bank of Nigeria and development banks as well  as other financial institutions.  It is also limited to the personnel managers of commercial and merchant banks.  In carrying out this study, the researcher faced some constraints as they affect the scope of the study among how which include non-availability of adequate information on the topic as per the area of this research.  Financial constraint was also another limiting factor which made it impossible for researcher not to visit some of the head quarters and branches of commercial and merchant bank due to where they are situated.  However, despite all these constraints and limitation the researcher was able to scale through these hurdles and completed the work on scheduled.