Mergers and Acquisition of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria: Empirical Analysis of Contribution to the Economic Growth of Nigeria (2006-2021)

Despite impressive results declared regularly by banks in Nigeria, their contribution to the economic growth of Nigeria has been a subject of mixed results as economic growth has been inconsistent for some time and historically been characterised by oscillations in both positive and negative directions. The Central Bank of Nigeria embarked on a major Mergers and Acquisition of Banks in 2005. The study evaluated the effect of Mergers and Acquisition of Deposit Money Banks’ contribution to Economic Growth of Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. Total yearly data for Economic Growth, Total Commercial Bank Lending and Total Commercial Bank Assets were extracted from the Central Bank Statistical Bulletin for the period 2006 to 2021 and they are considered valid and reliable. The study adopted descriptive and inferential statistics and the Auto-Regressive-Distributed Lag-ARDL model was adopted for data analysis.The elasticity of Total Bank Lending- upsurges pertaining to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)- is 0.9951, indicating that ceteris paribus, a 1% rise in is expected to increase (Economic Growth ) by 0.995. The positive nexus was statistically significant at 5% (p = 0.009), showing that Total Bank Lending ( ) impact economic growth positively ( ) in the long run. Furthermore, the study revealed that the Total Bank Assets- depicted a positive nexus with GDP- . The elasticity of pertaining to is 0.5773, indicating that ceteris paribus, a 1% rise in is expected to increase Economic Growth- by 0.5773%. The positive nexus was statistically significant at 0.05 (p = 0.018), hence denoting that Total Bank Assets have a significant individual impact on Economic Growth ( ) in Nigeria in the long run. The study concluded that Total Commercial Bank Lending and Total Commercial bank Assets jointly influenced Economic Growth positively. It is recommended that the policy makers should pay attention to Mergers and Acquisition of Banks and continue to ensure that banks are strong enough to support Economic Growth.