THE CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF FREE INTEREST BANKING POLICY ON THE ISLAMIC BANKING IN NIGERIA

The issue of establishing non-interest banking, bank based on shariah in Nigeria is not new. The bank operates strictly on the basis of Islam, but did not record any successful achievements due to lack of adequate personnel, low capital base, non-challant attitude of staff, and inadequate awareness of the system. The basic objectives of the study include: to determine the operations of the free interest banking system in Nigeria, to determine of the benefits of the non-interest banking in Nigeria and to find out whether the banks operations with the CBN guidelines and standards. The study will be of immense significance as it will give an insight on the need for interest free banking in Nigeria. The researcher adopted the survey and the documentary research designs. The population of the study is the entire population of Nigeria, approximately 180 million. The following recommendations were made and they are as follow: the Federal Government should adopt the non-interest banking system and enhance its operation to be comprehensive like its counterparts, the conventional banking system and the development of adequate regulatory and supervisory framework for the effective operation of non-interest banking in Nigeria