By Idolor, Eseoghene Joseph
The study seeks to determine the extent of utilisation and integration of Operations Research (OR) in Nigerian commercial banking institutions. Its specific objectives are to ascertain the frequency of use of OR techniques in the investment decisions of Nigerian commercial banks, ascertain the extent of use of OR model in the liquidity management decisions of Nigerian commercial banks, determine the ratio of usage of OR techniques in the loans and credit administration decisions of Nigerian commercial banks, determine the level of application of OR in the operations management decisions of Nigerian commercial banks, ascertain the determinants of successful OR application in the operations of Nigerian commercial banks; and to determine the level of integration of OR in the commercial banking operations of Nigerian commercial banks. The research instrument used for data collection is a combination of questionnaire and structured oral interview. The data collected was analysed using simple percentages and relative frequencies; while the hypotheses raised were tested using Z-test statistics at five percent (5%) level of significance. The investigations revealed a high frequency of use of OR techniques in solving the investment decision problems of Nigerian commercial banks, a high extent of use of OR techniques in handling the liquidity management decision problems of Nigerian commercial banks, a high ratio of usage of OR techniques in solving the loans and credit administration decision problems of Nigerian commercial banks, a high level of application of OR techniques in solving the operations management decision problems of Nigerian commercial banks and a high level of integration of OR techniques in the operations of Nigerian commercial banks. The study also revealed that the determinants of successful OR application in Nigerian commercial banks include employee level of awareness, education, top management support, nature of the business environment and the intended benefits. The oral interview revealed that the extent of use of OR impacts positively on corporate financial performance of Nigerian commercial banks; and that the most critical challenge facing OR usage is the commonly talked about “human factor” in decision making and implementation. The study however recommends the enhanced usage of OR in Nigerian commercial banks and other related commercial banking institutions, the establishment of OR departments in the nations citadel of higher education as well as the strengthening of the newly established Institute for Operations Research of Nigeria, to further enhance OR awareness and usage in Nigerian commercial banks. To the best knowledge of the researcher, a unique contribution of the study is that no research work of this nature has been specifically conducted on the utilisation and integration of OR techniques in Nigerian commercial banking institutions.