COMMUNITY BANKING: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
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COMMUNITY BANKING: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER ONE OF COMMUNITY BANKING PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In Nigeria, it can be claimed that the rural banking activity is such that the branches were duped by the headquarters’ rules, traditions, and regulations. However, in contrast to commercial banks, community banks were established in rural areas to address the financial requirements of the residents by mobilising their resources into current and savings accounts.
This, in turn, within the resources of the banking institution, can be concerned with the creation of credit for rural dwellers for the purpose of increasing their production activity, either as an individual or as a group of industrialists, farmers, or o- cooperative society, the Nigeria banking system,
its operation, and location service in the country prior to 1977 were concentrated in the country’s urban areas, and this brought the concentration of economic activity on the urban areas at the d However, the reason for establishing banks in rural areas was due to a lack of physical facilities and a low degree of economic activity.
The colonial policy of placing banks in urban regions where economic activity has existed, as well as the preference of bank employees to work in urban districts where faculty and comfortable housing are available.
In an effort to correct the abnormal banking system, the (CBN) central bank of Nigeria introduced the rural banking scheme in 1978 (the Nigeria 1987 by Herbte O. Orji 1979),
becoming the first bank to establish bank branches in rural areas with the potential to contribute to Nigeria’s economic development. It entails the development of new bank branches of both new and existing banks in the country’s rural areas, as well as the supply of banking services to rural communities that have evolved and exhibit rural features.
The central bank of Nigeria will be required to determine the situation in which the rural community has a population of at least (500) five hundred people and an established economic and social institution such as local industries adequate on the local market, hospitals, schools, and other private and government institutions.
The plan was divided into four stages;
Between 1977 and 1980, the first phase involved the establishment of 200 banks. However, the phase only archived twelve branches.
Page 29 of the January/March 1987 C.B.N bulletin
The second phase began in 1981 with the intention of opening 266 bank branches, however only 258 chess banks were opened throughout that time period. The third phase will also begin in 1954, with a total of 300 branches to be opened. Under this phase of the strategy, the number of commercial bank branches opened increased from 72 to 144 in 1988.
During the review period, one more branch was opened in the second phase, bringing the total to 258. As a result, the total number of banks established through the rural banking scheme increased from 72 to 602 in 1988.
Similarly, the number of urban banks grows by 124 in 1988, bringing the total number of branches to 1101. The fourth phase of rural banking is about to begin, but there has been good news about the implementation.
According to business time Monday 9th April (1990), the United Bank of Africa proposed scrapping the fourth phase of the government’s rural banking programme, instead opting for the establishment of more urban bank branches, which holds little promise of further economic development.
The rural banking scheme programme is a supplement on the line to assist bankable projects, economic projects, and economic activity, but urban banking still has a lot of untapped resources that can be mobilised through a deliberate strategy of expanding urbane banking branches.
The managing director, U.B.A Allahaji Sulaiman Baffa, emphasises that the bank has reached its limits in establishing a rural banking programme only to realise that these prospects are few and far between. As a result of this, a community bank was formed.
The community was created as a financial institution to meet the financing needs of small-scale farmers. Customers are usually the shareholders. They have a share capital of $250,000.00, however only one-tenth of that amount is guaranteed as a loan to the consumers.
The decree creating this bank was issued in 1990, and the bank has a board of directors that established policies and directed management. The policies are guided by the 1990 decree. The community bank’s activities are numerous.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Nigeria is severely underbanked. The Nigerian Central Bank launched the rural banking system (RBS) in 1977, with three phases of calendar 1977 – 1980 – 1985 and 1985 – 1987. In 1985, 24 commercial banks and twelve merchant banks were to serve a population of one million people. This puts 80,000 people in close proximity to one banking branch, or 30,000 people.
Nigeria’s banking facilities are becoming increasingly inadequate. Existing bank branches are located in urban and commercial areas. Because the majority of the population lives in these places.
The importance of banking institutions in rural areas and throughout the country. As a result, there is a need to expand financial services to these communities. Unfortunately, the commercial bank appears to have virtually returned to these rural communities, possibly for good reason.
The goal of this study is to discover what problems are linked with Ekulu Community Bank in Enugu State, Nigeria, and to show how banking in rural regions might be improved based on the findings of the investigation. The following questions may form such an issue.
i. Has the federal government adequately subsidised community banks?
ii. Does the community bank have qualified personnel?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The study’s goal is to look at the accomplishments of Ekulu community bank in Enugu state as well as the problem that has been impeding their efficiency since the commencement of community banking in Enugu state. The researcher seeks to archive the following objectives in particular:
(a) To determine the accomplishments of community banks in Enugu State in terms of credit provision, savings mobilisation, and the instillation of banking habits in residents of diverse communities.
(b) Identifying issues impeding the adoption of desired banking practises by distinct communities in Enugu State.
(c) Determine the issue impeding the community bank’s effectiveness of service in Enugu.
(d) To discover ways/means of improving the community bank’s service in order to ensure its sustainability through efficient service and consumer patronage]
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
A series of well-structured questions were administered to the workers of the nearby Ekulu community bank.
The following are the questions:
1.One of the federal government’s objectives in establishing community banks is to promote rural development by providing financial and banking services, as well as other facilities, to communities that have an insufficient supply of such facilities. To what extent has your bank gone in archiving such objectives?
2. What are the accomplishments of Ekulu Community Bank in your community in terms of credit granting, saving mobilisation, and instilling saving habits among the community’s residents?
3. What are the issues impeding the desired adoption of the banking system and services, as well as the issues affecting the service provided by Ekulu community banks in Enugu state?
4. List the methods/means of resolving difficulties in the community of the stated locations, particularly with regard to this.
(a) A problem related with power and influence.
(a) Reliance on suspending banks
(c) Fund transfer
(d) Unqualified personnel
(e) Inadequate training and motivation.
5. What are the other problems, aside from the ones mentioned above, that you have identified and how you plan to solve them in order to ensure the survival and development of Ekulu Community Bank? Also, as a unit bank, what problems have you witnessed that hinder the bank’s progress?
6. What efforts are being taken to ensure that community banks’ services are widely publicised?
THE HYPOTHESIS FORMULA
The researcher developed the following hypothesis in order to ensure thorough study of the data obtained for the purpose of providing a guideline for data analysis.
The null hypothesis is:
Ekulu Community Bank has accomplished a tremendous feat in its field of operation.
Another possibility:
In its field of activity, Ekulu Community Bank has accomplished no notable achievements.
Ho: Null hypothesis
There are issues impeding the progress of Ekulu Community Bank in Enugu State.
Ha’s alternative hypothesis:
There are no issues impeding the effectiveness of Enugu State’s Ekulu Community Bank.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
As this research project is intended to be fact-finding and problem-solving, the project recommendation, if implemented, will sensitise the residents of the various communities in the state to adopting healthy banking habits in order to help this community bank within the domicile in a partroniously and effectively manner.
Also, the proposal will be useful in providing insight into ways of solving varicose problems and improving the service provided by community banks in order to ensure their continuous survival and prosperity through their clients’ patronage.
This is because, according to Zober, the benefit will be improved financial service at all levels of the community and accelerated country growth.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The researcher project is planned to be completed in five phases and then delivered in five chapters. The first chapter introduces the issue and goes into some detail. It addressed the study’s overview, thesis statement, research purpose, research questions, and hypothesis. His chapter also discussed the significance of the study as well as the description of the numerous terms and observations used by the researcher.
The second chapter is a literature review in which the researcher offered very little of her viewpoint while thoroughly reviewing the work, contributions, and records of numerous aspects and professionals in the field of the inquiry under consideration.
The third chapter contains a full explanation of how the researcher carried out the research, particularly with relation to population sampling, data source, data collection and location, data, questionnaire design, and methodology.
The fourth chapter is about data analysis and presentation. In Chapter 5, the researcher offered a summary of the findings, a discussion of the findings, and co-recommendations for improvement. The researcher provided some suggestions and recommendations for the future in this chapter.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study is restricted to Ekulu Community Bank in Enugu State. This is owing to study time and cost constraints; also, the socioeconomic situation of this community bank is not uniform across the country. As a result, the general ability of the findings and recommendations presented in this research effort is limited.
Despite this restriction, the research recommendation of this study is critical to the effective community banking service as well as the survival and prosperity of community banking in the country. Whereas these community banks have comparable charters and operate under similar codes of conduct,
the study in her literature analysis did not limit it to contributions from Enugu state, but instead widened her literature review to include all experts and professionals from around the country.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
To make this work more meaningful, some words have been defined.
1. Banking; a bank is just a financial institution that stores money and other precious items such as gold, examination question papers, certificates, and so on. The definition condenses the bank’s multiple economic and social tasks. Today, banks serve crucial functions such as collecting deposits from clients,
discounting bills of exchange, granting loans and advances, advising consumers, loan syndication, extending credit, financing development projects, and acting as a surety and executor of wills. It should be mentioned that the level of development of a giving civilization has a function.
2. Community banking: A community bank is a financial institution that was founded to meet the credit needs of small-scale producers across the country. It differs from a traditional commercial bank in several ways,
including the fact that it does not conduct literal business transactions and must be associated with a conventional commercial bank that serves as a correspondent bank to the community bank.
Some of the functions include accepting various types of deposits and acting as an agent to look after their consumers. They lend money and act as a catalyst for development in rural areas through collaboration with local government authorities. Cooperative society and non-governmental organisation of the Community Development Association.
Furthermore, community banks aid the rural and urban poor in becoming more productive, increasing the income and output of small-scale producers, and converting subsistence economic activity into commercial activity. Customers can also purchase and get draughts from them.
3. Community development association (CDA): As used in the project, the term community development association refers to such community organisations as town unions, districts associations, or similar bodies that represent the traditional apex organisation for planning and detecting development activities within the country.
4. National board of community banks (NBCB): The federal government formed the national board of community banks by Executive Order 40 of 1990. On Tuesday, July 16, 1991, the board became officially unregulated.
The fundamental goal of forming the board is to promote, monitor, and supervise the general operation of community banks in accordance with the operational guidelines established by the policies, as well as to control the general operation of the community banking system.
It organises, coordinates, and promotes proper training for community bank workers. The NBCB monitors community bank activity and reports it to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which is the top bank in control of all financial institutions in the country.
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