CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

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private sector-led industry as against government domineering ownership in the early 1960s
up to the mid 1980s, and rising foreign participation in the industry. The first can be
attributed to the reforms in the sector, which have cancelled out the proportion of
government ownership in the sector, whilst the second can be linked to global
competitiveness of banking services. Private ownership thus currently dominates the sector.
Figure 1: Growth of Commercial Banks’ Total Deposits and Total Assets
100
Growth of Total Asset
80
60
40
20
0
-20
-40
Table 15: Distribution of Number of Banks by Type of Owner, 2000–2010
Ownership 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Status
Private 76 77 78 77 77 77 21 20 20 20 20
Government 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Foreign 10 11 11 11 11 11 4 4 4 4 4
Total 89 89 90 89 89 89 25 24 24 24 24
Source: Data for 2000 to 2006 was sourced from Abel Ezeoha (2007), ‘Structural Effects of Banking Industry Consolidation
in Nigeria: A Review’, Journal of Banking Regulation, Vol 8. The data for 2007 to 2010 was obtained from banks’ annual
reports procured from Analysts’ Data Services and Resources Limited.
Access to Financial Services in Nigeria
In spite of the tremendous growth in banks and banking activities in Nigeria in the past two
decades, the level of access to financial services in the population as a whole is far from
optimal. Table 16, which compares Nigeria with Mauritius (the most advanced in financial
access in Africa), indicates the extent to which Nigeria is behind on most indicators.
However, information on deposits and loans is not available for Nigeria.
The characteristics of financial access in Nigeria include:
1. Low access to formal financial services by the adult population.
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