Bank Credit and Nigerian Industrial Performance (2005 – 2024)

he industry sector performance in Nigeria from 2000 to 2024. The study adopted Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test estimation technique and dynamic Error correction model (ECM) to test the short run and long run effects of bank credit on the Nigerian industry sector performance. Data on Nigerian Industrial Value-Added IVA (proxy for Nigerian Industrial Performance) served as the dependent variable, while Bank Loans to private sector BLPS, Bank Loans to Federal Government BLFG, and Bank Loans to State Government BLSG, served as the independent variables. The results show that Bank loans and advances to the private sector BLPS has both short run and long run negative significant effects on Nigerian Industry performance. Bank loan to federal government BLFG has no significant short run effect but has significant positive long run effect on Nigerian industry performance. Bank loan to State government BLSG has no significant effect on Nigerian industry performance both in the short run and long run. It was recommended among other things that Nigeria, government, through the central bank of Nigeria should ensure non stringent and investment friendly credit conditions from banks to the private sector industrial firms. Also, bank loans should not be embezzled or used to fund politically motivated projects with not much economic bearing. Federal government bank loans should mainly be channeled to real and industrial sector of the economy to produce the desired positive economic result. Such will enable industrial firms perform optimally and have the desired positive effect significant on industrial sector performance in Nigeria.