Ownership System and Commercial Banking in Nigeria: Issues Andchallenges on Economic Development

This paper on the ownership system and commercial banking in Nigeria used the qualitative research method and relied on the secondary method of data collection and content analysis to assess the ownership structure and system of commercial banking in Nigeria and their implication for the Nigerian economy. Adopting dialectical materialism as its theoretical guide, the study found out that commercial banks in Nigeria have responded more to the dictates and financial needs of its principal and major shareholders and their political allies than to the interests, and aspirations of the customers and Nigeria’s economy. And in conclusion, stated that the nature of ownership of commercial banks have unduly influenced their negative and exploitative impact on the economy and recommended that conscious efforts should be made to adjust the operational paradigm and philosophy of commercial banking in Nigeria to engender sustainable economic development; contrary to the prevailing order which maintains the exploitative character and texture of colonial commercial banking the sector inherited from the pre-independence Nigeria.