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IMPACT OF BANK RECAPITILIZATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the development of national economy. Due to their importance and the crucial role they play in economic development and growth of the nation, much attention has been placed on financing of small and medium enterprises, since they are major contributors to the economy of Nigeria. These enterprises are drivers of the economy; therefore policy attention has to be given to them especially in developing economies because of their impact on many sectors of the economy. Their impact is felt in the following ways: Greater utilization of local raw materials, employment generation, encouragement of rural development, development of entrepreneurship, mobilization of local savings, linkages with bigger industries, provision of regional balance by spreading investments more evenly, provision of avenue for self employment and provision of opportunity for training managers and semi skilled workers.

In Nigeria, credit has been recognized as an essential tool for promoting small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs), hence the need for recapitalization of commercial banks in Nigeria. Bank recapitalization which was effective from 2006 is aimed at making Nigerian banks stronger and better in-order to finance all sectors of the economy including the major drivers of the economy-Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. About 70 percent of the population is engaged in the informal sector or in agricultural production. The Federal and State governments have recognized that for sustainable growth and development, the financial empowerment of the people is vital. If this growth strategy is adopted and the latent entrepreneurial capabilities of this large segment of the people is sufficiently stimulated and sustained, then positive multipliers will be felt throughout the economy. To give effect to these aspirations various policies have been instituted over time by the Federal Government to improve rural and urban enterprise production capabilities (Olaitan 2006)

The central Bank of Nigeria on July 6th 2004, announced the recapitalization of banking sector from N2 billion to N25 billion with effect from 1st January 2006. This was with a view to make the sector internationally competitive, sound and improves its ability to provide credit to all the productive sectors of the economy. In order to meet this obligation, banks embarked on strategies of merger and acquisition, floating of new shares and so on. At the end of the exercise, 25 new banks emerged.

It was hoped that the consolidation will make the banks stronger to be able to provide large amount of funds to productive sectors of the economy which is largely dominated by Small and Medium Enterprises, thereby making them grow into large firms with enough resources to contribute to the economic development.

Also, in December 2005, the CBN introduced new Micro-finance Policy (MFP) which was designed to be public and private sector driven.

The purpose of the policy was to strengthen community banks in order for them to be able to grant collateral and non collateral loans to finance microeconomic activities in the economy. The policy also aims at providing many people with access to financial services who otherwise will have no access to these services.

Small and Medium Enterprises as said earlier have a crucial role to play in the development of an economy, they are training grounds for local entrepreneurs, they encourage local savings and ensure equitable distribution of wealth thereby reducing rural- urban migration of human resources.

To this end, government should collaborate with private sector in order to create an enabling and conducive environment for SME’S in order to contribute positively towards the development of the economy.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 

Bank fraud, poor lending and credit management practices in the Nigerian banking sector forced the Central bank of Nigeria to revisit the capital structure of commercial banks in Nigeria. These among other things led the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to give a

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