Taofeek Sola Afolabi

In a global pandemic, there is a need for banks to improve service delivery through financial technologies. Since the fight against COVID-19 is the community responsibility, the role of banks in channeling cash to all stakeholders is essential for the contemporary human race. This study investigated the impact of the government response to COVID-19 on the resilience of banks. A multivariate Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to specify the links between the exogenous factors (government’s social and financial responses) and the endogenous variables (resilience of bank customers, employees and investors). A research survey approach was used where 543 respondents were sampled. A self-constructed online questionnaire was used to harvest responses from customers, employees and investors of the selected banks. The result of the analysis showed a significant relationship between government’s social response and the resilience of bank customers. However, such a relationship does not hold between government’s social responses and other resilience indicators (employees and investors). Furthermore, the result revealed that government’s financial responses do not affect the resilience of banks. The study concluded that the government’s social response during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced bank customers’ resilience in Nigeria. It was recommended that banks, as part of the policy, develop tools to complement government actions during the pandemic, thereby ameliorating its impact on their customers.

Acknowledgment
The authors will like to acknowledge all respondents who took part in the survey.

The study examines the influence of market orientation on the performance of mobile operators in the telecommunication industry and the moderating effect of strategic marketing on the relationship. Based on a cross-sectional survey of 286 management staff of the four largest mobile operators in Nigeria (MTN, Glo, 9Mobile, Airtel), an empirical evidence was established. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The SEM outlined the connection between the dimensions of market orientation and organizational performance. The findings revealed that inter-functional coordination (β = 0.485, t = 2.542, p = 0.013 < 0.05) and customer orientation (β = 0.245, t = 2.043, p = 0.038 < 0.05) significantly influence organizational performance, while competitor orientation (β = 0.159, t = 1.870, p = 0.065 < 0.05) has no discernible effect. It was also found that strategic marketing has a major impact on organizational performance (β = 0.466, t = 4.175, p = 0.000 < 0.05), but it has no moderating influence on the relationship between market orientation and organizational performance (β = 0.032, t = 0.445, p = 0.665 > 0.05). This implies that strategic marketing has a direct effect on organizational performance and not a moderating effect. Therefore, the study recommends that market orientation especially customer orientation and inter-functional coordination, as well as strategic marketing, should become a culture in the telecommunication industry.

Type of article: Research Article

Abstract
The post-COVID-19 era in Nigeria has witnessed several reforms and policies from the apex bank aimed at enhancing economic recovery. However, concerns have been raised about how these policies have impacted the stability of the banking sector. This study investigated the effect of monetary policies on banking sector stability in Nigeria in the post-COVID-19 era. The policy tools included monetary rate (CBN benchmark rate), nominal exchange rate, interest rates, and cash reserve ratio. Banks’ stability was proxied by an aggregate z-score of four broad banking soundness indicators (capital adequacy ratio, loan-to-deposit ratio, liquidity ratio, and profitability ratio). Monthly data from January 2021 to February 2024 on these variables were analyzed through the Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to co-integration technique. Results revealed a significant one-period lagged error correction term (t-stat = –5.76, prob = 0.00) with a 45.2% adjustment speed from short-term to long-term. Further results showed that monetary rate (t-stat = 0.83; prob = 0.016) and nominal exchange rate (t-stat = 4.75; prob = 0.017) both directly and significantly affected the bank soundness index. However, interest rate (t-stat = –3.83; prob = 0.838) and cash reserve ratio (t-stat = –0.61; prob = 0.55) exhibited inverse and non-significant effects on the bank soundness index. The study concluded that monetary rate and nominal exchange rate are key determinants of banking sector stability in Nigeria since the post-COVID-19 era. Therefore, Nigeria’s apex bank needs to apply a more cautious approach to fixing monetary policy rates while focusing on boosting its foreign reserves to strengthen the local naira.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The private sector remains the engine room for inclusive economic development, and its interaction with Foreign Capital Inflows (FCIs) is crucial for growth in emerging markets like Nigeria. This study examined the impact of FCIs (Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Portfolio Investment, Foreign Debt, Foreign Aid & Foreign Remittances) on Private Sector Credit in Nigeria. To achieve this objective, time series data spanning a 26-year period (1998–2023) were harvested and used. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller test was used to ascertain the unit root, while the hierarchical regression technique provided the model estimates. From the results, foreign remittances emerged as the only significant contributor to private sector credit growth (β = 0.993, p < 0.05). This underscores the critical role of diaspora remittances in supporting financial intermediation and private sector development. The study concluded that foreign remittance is a major driver of private sector credit expansion in Nigeria. It is recommended that policy efforts should prioritize facilitating remittance inflows through a supportive regulatory framework. Emphasis should also be placed on leveraging remittances as a stable and development-oriented source of capital.