ABSTRACT
The economic situation in Nigeria have lead to shift in emphasis on nonoil
export as a way of boosting foreign exchange earnings as well as the
diversification of the Nigeria economy. This have become important
because of the deficiency in foreign exchange caused by fluctuations in
oil prices and the Niger Delta issues which have led to drop in
government revenue. Unfortunately, Merchant banks whose primary
role is the provision of credit have been found wanting as regards
granting of credit to the non-oil export sector. This limited availability of
fund by Merchant banks to these non-oil export sectors have slowed
down that sectors’ contribution to Nigeria’s Gross National Product.
Therefore, this research intends to examine the contribution of Merchant
Banks to financing the non-oil export sector; to determine whether
Merchants’ loans and advances to the non-oil exports sector has
positive impact on Nigeria’s Gross National Product as well as
ascertaining the proportion of Merchant Bank’ total deposit mobilized to
loan and advances to the non-oil sector. The research adopted the
descriptive survey approach and a sample of six Merchant Banks was
randomly selected. Questionnaires were distributed to targeted
respondents and the data collated was analysed using the Pearson
Moment Correlations and the t-test was employed in testing the
significance that existed between the variable under study. The result as
revealed by the tested hypotheses shows that Merchant banks are not
playing encouraging role through the grant of loan and advances to the
non-oil export sector; there was a positive correlation between loan and
advances and Nigeria’s Gross National Product and the proportion of
total deposit to non-oil export sector loans and advance is poor. The
impact of merchant bank contributions through grant of loan and
advances cannot be overemphasized as attested to by this research
granted to the non-oil export sector as that sector has the potential to
increase Nigeria’s foreign exchange as well as stimulating growth of the
economy
