Nigeria: Bank Fraud
In recent years, the volume and frequency of fraudulent practices in Nigerian banks have been on the increase. According to the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), the level of reported fraud in Nigerian banks rose from N804m in 1990 to N3,199m in 1998. Furthermore, the proportion of actual/expected loss to the amount involved in fraud rose from 3 per cent in 1990 to 22 per cent in 1998. Perhaps the highest fraud ever reported in any particular year by a Nigerian bank occurred in 1998 when United Bank for Africa plc wrote off N786m on account of fraud. The growing scope and scale of fraud in the Nigerian banking industry is not surprising, given the rising profile of the country as a corrupt and fraudulent nation. For instance, a recent survey by Transparency International, a German‐based international organisation that interviewed business people worldwide, listed Nigeria as the second most corrupt country in the world. The country also has a poor reputation concerning drug trafficking. It has, for instance, been asserted that:
Islamic Banking in Nigeria: A Stimulant for Mobilising Funds for Productive Activities
Islamic Banking is not synonymous with interest free banking. It operates on Islamic code of ethics which is based on the Quran. All its funds are asset backed. This makes its entire funds available for investment in the production of goods and services. Islamic banking forbids investment in all economic activities that are socially or morally injurious to the society. It operates on profit and loss sharing motive. Islamic banking was formally introduced into the Nigerian banking industry effective 13 th January, 2012. The introduction generated a lot of controversies. This work examined the problems, challenges and prospects of the new model. It was found that most Nigerians lacked the knowledge of the model and its operations, hence the controversies. The study found that Islamic banking had taken root in many Western countries. The non-interest regime and its ethical principles offered veritable incentives and attractive options for investors. In spite of the controversies and the initial challenges, Islamic banking is suitable for funding entrepreneurship and economic development in the real sector of the Nigerian economy as it provides easy access to cheap source of funds.
Application of the Kano Model for a Better Understanding of Customer Requirements in Higher Education—A Pilot Study
Various pieces of information and knowledge turn into “know-how” simply by their application in the market. This applies to all spheres of activities. It is therefore important to know and understand the requirements of customers already in the stage of making a product, and to confront these with the possibilities of a producer. In this article we are exploring the possibilities of a better understanding of the requirements of customers and stakeholders in the process of the creation of products in educational services. In particular, we examined seven general requirements: practice orientation, ethical orientation, research orientation, quality resources, innovation orientation, skills orientation, and quality staff. We use the Kano model on a pilot sample of respondents at an institution of higher education. Our results showed that “practice orientation” and “quality resources” are the most stable requirements, while “quality staff” is the least stable. The most linear requirement (the same effect on satisfaction and dissatisfaction) is “innovation orientation”. “Research orientation” belongs to attractive requirements and we also found that in the case of “ethical orientation” there are weak relations between positive and negative responses in our survey. The “skills orientation” proved to be too general, and our research shows that it could be indifferent. It is therefore advisable to specify the investigated skills when investigating requirements on educational services. The main contribution based on the proposed research procedures is an effective linking of customers and producers already from the beginning of constructing a value chain. Investing in sophisticated management approaches when modelling products and processes can thus become a significant source of the competitive advantage of an educational institution. At the same time, it is a contribution to better placing of its graduates in the labor market.