Introduction
The major reason for the existence of public enterprises by various governments in this country is to serve as instrument of economic development of the country. However, this history of industrial development by this government of this country is as old as that of colonization. Prior to the establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria financial system was characterized by the absence of interdependence currency and machinery for industrial management, domination of expatriate industries, the industries were predominantly owned and controlled by foreigners, and the lack of local investment outlets resulting in excess funds being repatriated for investment overseas.
The result of this phenomenon was the obeisance of any effective machinery for industrial development financing both for the government and the private sector. There were no capital markets, or any markets, no stock exchange, no development banking institution, and a conspicuous absence of development bank habit To correct this in the Nigerian industrial system, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was established by the Federal Government in March, 1958 under the Central Bank Act of 1958 and given the sole authority to issue legal tender currency in Nigeria, to maintain external reserves, to safeguard the international value of the currency, to promote monetary Stability and sound financial structure in Nigeria, to act as banker and financial adviser to the Federal Government and to act as lender of last resort to the Commercial Banks. Moreover, after the establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the idea of setting up development banks was borne when it became clear that there was an urgent need for financial institutions capable of providing medium and long term capital to fill a serious gap in the industrial financial system. This is due to the fact that local investment found it difficult to raise capital for the promotion of industrial activities.
To this end, various development banks were established to take charge of the various sectors of the economy. The Nigerian industrial Development Bank Limited (NIDB) was established to speed up the industrial development of this country. The Nigerian industrial Development Bank has stood the test of time as second financier of industrialization in this country, while the Nigerian Agricultural and cooperative bank Limited (NACB), was established to finance agricultural development. This could be seen as a conscious attempt to promote the development of agriculture and industry so as to raise the per-capital involved and the standard of living of the people.
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