HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (A STUDY OF FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA PLC, ENUGU )
Abstract
The study is “Human Resources Development and Financial Institutions: A study of First Bank of Nigeria plc, Enugu.  It assess the relevance of human resource development in addressing the issues and also present technique that may be applied in decision makers for the effective utilization of their human capital resources in the financial institutions.  This is very necessary considering the pace with which the business environment and individual value system are changing.  The researcher reviewed some related literatures that are in line with human resource development.  Questionnaire instrument was used respondents were analyze using simple percentages and frequency tables for proper clarifications.  The findings revealed that many problems exist in the financial organization such as underutilization of human resources; unproportional investment on material resource than on the development employees, unethical practices, and inadequate provisions for training and development by human resource unit of the financial institutions.  Based on the findings, the researcher made some recommendations on the best way to handle the training and development of their employees for effectiveness efficiency in the financial institutions which include training and retraining of their employees and investing on human resources.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study                        
Statement of the Problem                        
Purpose of the Study                               
Significance of the Study                           
Scope of the Study                             
Limitations of the Study                       
Research Questions                             
Definition of Terms                               
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction               
Concept of Human Resources/Capital               
Concept of Human Resource Development (HRD)        
Historical Background of Human Resources Development in Nigeria 
Effective Human Resources Development             
Processes of Staff Development                        
Challenges of Effective Human Resource Development    
Self-Development                              
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Research Design                    
Area of the Study                           
Sources of Data                                   
Sampling Techniques                           
Distribution and Return of Questionnaire             
Method of Data Collection                          
Method of Data Analysis                       
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Data Analysis, Findings and Discussion             
Discussion of Findings                               
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Findings                         
Implications of the Study                      
Recommendations                          
Conclusion                                   
Suggestion for Further Studies                    
Bibliography                                
Appendix                                     
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The main source of income and portability of the bank remains the spread or difference between the rate at which funds are borrowed and the rate they are invested or loaned out. In modern time the number of services offered by financial institutions such as commercial banks have increased immensely this.is to enable them boost their deposit base and risk taking which is a fundamental nature of banking remains unchanged. The risks of mismatches between assets and liabilities and between borrowing and lending rates. In managing the risks the bank has to satisfy the following sectors; surplus unit from which the bank borrows and who in expect maximum liquidity from the bank; deficit unit, these are those who borrow from the bank who are also expected to liquidate the fund within a specified period. Another sector is the shareholders who will require adequate return on their investments in order for them to invest more; the regulatory authorities who ensures that banks operate prudently and within the stipulated regulatory requirements and finally the community within which it operates and who expects contribution of the bank towards the development of the host environment.
The financial institutions had witnessed continuous evolution all over the world especially since after the Second World War. From the collapse of Bretton Woods system of floating exchange rate of the British government which resulted to increase volatility of exchange and interest rates in 1944 to the imbalance of capital flows as a result emergence of bigger industrial companies in the developed countries such as Germany, Latin America, Japan etc. A view on Nigeria banking and financial system also indicates that the banking sector had undergone remarkable changes over the years in terms of the number of institutions, ownership structure as well as the scale of operations.
Some notable and significant changes that took place were the deregulation, innovation of a range of new financial markets and instruments and advances in computer and information technology. One of the effects of these development is the expansion of banking activities. The number of international banks increased considerably while the domestics banks went international and globalized their operations in order to preserve business relations with the international banks in the face of possible competition. Just like their counterparts in other part of the world and in order to conform with the international standards foreign banks were established in Nigeria, while Nigerian banks also established in foreign countries.
This is in order to share in Nigeria’s international trade, and in the enormous advantages and opportunities which they hope to achieve by such venture and to provide a training ground for officers and staff from Nigeria coupled with the wish to deal direct with their customers and associates in the foreign countries. The foreign banks and branches provided international links in the financing of interactional trade and the flow of foreign exchange. They also exposed national banks to competition and to the inflow of new financial technology. The establishment of Central Bank of Nigeria in 1956 opened a new chapter in the annals of the evolution of banks in Nigeria. It set the stage for a new era in which monetary policy could be used as an economic management. More banks (government and individual) were established in the country after the independence in 1960. Government, in a bid to have total control of the indigenous banks and as part of National development plans, established some banks like the Nigeria Industrial Development Bank (NIDB), Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry (NBCI), Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative Bank (NACB) etc.
Nwankwo (2018) observed that, in order to escape from the suffocating political climate of government controlled banking establishments, the federal character syndrome and frustrated by the break on their career advancement and fearing premature retirement when they still have much to offer, several banking practitioners floated new banks where they hoped to put their expertise and drive into practice. The establishment of these banks brought a dramatic change to the two major banks which were established by the British and dominated the financial institutions in Nigeria in terms of structure and scope. As at the end of 2003 insured banks stood at 89 with various sizes and degrees of soundness. The total banking sector’s asset increased, the market share based on the industry’s total assets distribution shows that the sector was highly concentrated with the ten largest banks accounting for more than 50% of the total assets.(Nwankwo 2018). Gradual deregulation which began in the industry was accelerated with the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986 by the Federal Government of Nigeria was designed to give room for the operation of free market forces, give banks more discretion in their operations and stimulate competition in the financial market. With no more free funds available to the banks to invest and scoop uneamed profits, the measures jolted the banks rather violently from their cosy arrnchairs to the field to scout for deposits and for business. Fierce competition as a result of the deregulation in the major international capital markets, diversification and sophistication of funding and investment techniques, concentration of savings with sophisticated institutional investors and the globalisation of the international financial markets (Nwakwo: 2018) not only have banks had to face competition from other companies whose business activities which previously characterized banks are now being performed by them (even though they may not be classified as financial institutions) but they have also faced it from other banks, many of which have globalised their operations.(Bamidele: 2005). Business has had to be fought for now unlike in the fifties and sixties a corporate customers of any size look for the best financial package they can get and retail customers get richer, smarter, more sophisticated and demanding. The effect is increased competition and aggressive banking.
They now compete fiercely and scramble actively for deposits because without adequate deposits, they cannot lend and without lending they cannot create the asset base to earn income and without income they cannot recover overhead expenses and pay dividends, let alone plough back profits to shore up the capital base. The competition also brought about innovations through computerization, new products, better packaging of old products, and increased emphasis on corporate services such as equipment leasing, loan syndication, buying of loans and debt factoring. Public relations efforts have therefore become the order of the day too and some are even shifting their emphasis from big corporate clients to small and medium size enterprises and business advisory services. Amidst the fiercely competitive environment is another feature in the nature of banking; heavy dependence on the confidence of depositors. The viability of the banking system is seen as crucial to the continuance of business efficiency and general well-being not only of the bank itself but of the economy generally. It is not surprising that banks are under the constant eagle eyes of the regulatory authorities.
It is in fact, the banks that are the most highly and closely regulated of all businesses. This has been due to the overriding and imperatives necessity to ensure that the banks conduct their business prudently. Another feature in the nature of banking is recurrent financial crisis and bank failures. These financial crises and bank failures have brought banks into increasing disrepute and have necessitated increased oversight by the regulatory authorities. This failures and crises also led to mergers and acquisitions among financial institution which are also occurring at a rapid pace in the United States of America, Europe, Japan and Eastern Europe, Far East Asian countries and Africa. Apart from failures other reasons such, Costs Savings, Revenue Enhancement, Improvement in information Technology, deregulation, shareholders pressure, and consistency with international trends have been adduced for the form and pace of consolidation.  The financial institutions in Nigeria were not without their problems like in other banks the world over. This is endorsed by the fact that Nigeria banking histo1'y is replete with bank failures occasioned primarily by inefficient management resulting in poor internal controls, ineffective checks and balances and poor performance. In addition to these are, wholesome practices and gross mismanagement, which contributed substantially to the failure of most of the banks. Some deficiencies and malpractices which pervades the industry in the formative years in the country still persist till today. While it could be said that the performance of the nation’s banking industry was fairly good especially when the assessment is done in isolation to other sectors of the economy and/or in isolation of what obtains in other emerging economies.
However, when the nation’s banking financial conditions and performances are  assessed against its expected role in the economy and or when compared with the banking sectors in South Africa, Malaysia, Europe, United States of America, it could be rightly described as fragile, poorly developed and extremely small. The Nigeria banking sector has not been able to actually support the economy nor lend for long term to customers. This has been one of the banks fundamental problems due to the limitation of resources, banks have to manage their assets and liabilities very well and no bank want to have doubtful or bad debts. This was why at a time in this country, banks were just trading in goods, local purchase order financing, discomforting among others which did not help the economy. Government did not also help matters in the history of Nigerian banks, like other banking system of other countries, they were subjected to extensive prudential regulation from the sociopolitical evolution of the country. The regulation sought to ensure sound and healthy banking and financial system, protect depositors effectively, accelerate the economic development of the country, develop banking habit etc. The controls were too rigid and generally unacceptable coupled with the strong control of some of the banks especially the foreign banks. These problems necessitated lots of reformation in the industry. The notable one is the 2005 consolidation policy in the Nigerian Banking Sector which stipulated a new minimum capital base of N25billion for Nigerian banks which led to the reduction of the number of banks from 89 to 24. Also as a way of checking the activities of banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria brought out a policy on financial year harmonization which is expected to take effect from December, 2009.
Inspite of all these challenges many banks have not accorded their human resource department with the appropriate and adequate importance they deserve, in terms of staffing in quantity and quality as well as creating the necessary environment for them to showcase their talents. Poaching for staff especially of tested hands has become the order of the day in the now keenly competitive environment. And this is bound to intensify in the coming years. lt is human resources that make organisations function and how effectively they do this depends on the quality of human resources and how effectively they are harnessed for organisation effectiveness. Without them organisations are no more than mere assemblages of buildings, plant and equipment. Bamidele 2005).
The 21st century global economic landscape has brought series of challenges and pressures on every organization. There is ready access to various forms of resources or assets with human resource as the most critical of assets for achieving and sustaining growth. The holistic approach to people management is the only option available tool which employers of labor have to employ in managing the workers in their establishment. This can be achieved by development and training of workers, competitive compensation, ensuring management contract and justice and providing enabling work environment where every form of inhibition to excellent performance is removed.  
Competitive advantage belongs to companies that know how to attract, select, develop and deploy talents. (Kolade: 2006) posits that the successful implementation of every business plans depends on workers to a large extent, managers should therefore move beyond their present state and become effective in actualizing objectives through strategic utilization of human resources in order to compete favourably in the global arena. Human Resources Development is one of the activities of Human Resource Management with special emphasis on training and development. It is concerned with the framework for the expansion of human capital within an organisation. Human Resources Development is a combination of Training and Education that ensures the continual improvement and growth of both the individual and the organisation. Financial institutions and indeed many organization today are increasingly recognizing the importance of developing their human resources. This has become very important following the challenges facing them especially the financial institutions due to hyper-competition, globalization and fast paced technology which have continued to put pressure on creativity, innovations, speed and flexibility. It is this realization that the banks are enhancing the competencies of their personnel by providing them with more and more training and development opportunities, maintaining good interpersonal relationship and also creating an atmosphere of trust and confidence.
The training function, popularly referred to as Human Resources Development (HRD), coordinates the organization’s efforts to provide training and development experiences for its employees in order to meet up with the challenges. Although training is often used in conjunction with development, the terms are not synonymous. Employee training can be defined as a planned attempt to facilitate employee learning of job-related knowledge, skills, and behaviors or helping them correct deficiencies in their performance. In contrast, development is an effort to provide employees with the skills needed for both present and future jobs. This work stresses the point that in the future the only winning organizations will be those that respond quickly to the issue of training and development-related problems. If an organization wants to succeed, it must recognize the importance of investing in its greatest resource-the force working for it. Developing human resources as key to effective organizational success as it relates to Employee training & development and Career development is the major issue that this work tends to cover.
Statement of the Problem
Human Resources Development approach has not taken a planned route in the most instances. These days what obtains in most financial institutions is an aberration of the real sector. Following the reduction of banks, many banks are now more interested in pursuing deposits to enable them meet up with the competitive nature of the business and keep abreast with the Central Bank of Nigeria Policy.  
This craze has further led some of the institutions to move farther away from the issue of human FCSOUICC development. Employees are most often engaged solely on grounds of mobilizing deposits without proper training. There are cases of poaching from one bank to another. A case of which some banks watch out (poaching)for employee of other banks who are sent on training for a mouthwatering offer to such staff Apart from deposit mobilization issues such as leadership and managerial programs which covered numerous topics such as; Banking Payment Systems, Anti Money Laundering, terrorist financing, International Economy, Mutual Funds, Islamic Banking and Finance, Banking Policies, Financial Markets, Information Technology, Human Resources Development, and Insurance all these are global economic issues which banks are expected to handle with seriousness and educate their staff on. These issues are not just for bank response to global situation, but countries are also assessed based on some of these economic activities. These account for the reason the apex bank in Nigeria has continued to reform the banking industry through the consolidation policy, financial year harmonization policy and constant issue of circulars on sensitive issues such as the terrorist financing and money laundering matter and impose penalty on banks who fail to comply. Yet it is very unfortunate to note that many employees do not know what these issues are all about due to lack of training or education on the issues.   
Some employees continued to be trained in an unplanned manner without strict accordance to the actual requirements. This predictably often results in an imbalance of staff Apart from imbalance of staff, in many instances, the distribution and availability of staff is uneven with large concentrations in marketing department. The new categories are trained in an ad hoc manner; their numbers, deployment, and duration of training vary widely. This uneven distribution of staff often leave gaps and raises issues of inappropriate and wasteful use of personnel with higher skills. ‘ - Lack of research on the relevance and utilisation of available human resources in relation to the bank needs and their performance characterizes the management of human resources in most financial institutions in Nigeria. Training and educational contents are not systematically and regularly tested for relevance to the changing requirements of the financial situations and services. It has also been observed that most employees make little or no effort to develop themselves and or increase their careers that will help to progress their job and employability. The above-mentioned problems and issues call for a revised and appropriate strategic approach to human resource development with a forward look to fit with the changing global economic situation with changing social, economic and environmental conditions.  
In view of the above, the questions that agitate the mind of the researcher are as follows: Firstly, what is Human Resources Development (HRD)? Secondly, what are the factors that impede HRD in Financial Institutions in Nigeria? Thirdly, what are the underlying significance of Human Resources Development in Financial institutions? Fourthly, what impacts will Human Resources Development policies have on financial institutions in this new dispensation?   
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of the study is to establish the impact of human resources development on staff of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Enugu Business Development Office. However the:
1.    To examine the human resource development strategies in FBN Plc, Enugu Business Development Office.
2.    To identify the factors that affect the implementation of human resource development policies in FBN
3.    To offer possible strategies for the successful implementation of the human resource development in F BN Plc in ensuring the attainment of its goals.
Significance of the Study
Globalization, technological change and competition have introduced volatility into the 21st century economy. High level complexity and uncertainty continue to characterize the global economic landscape with serious impact on businesses both globally and locally. Cases of mergers, acquisitions, layoffs and shutdowns are being reported worldwide. Surviving organizations are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that they intelligently confront the rapid shifts in the global economy. The growing complexity of banking operations and its demands for efficient and effective management in the unfolding operations in the Nigerian banking industry require employers and employees be not only experienced but also and more importantly, be professionally qualified and informed of developments within the macro environments also have human resource at the core of decision making.
Indeed, as pointed out by Nwankwo (2018), the fastest better performing organizations are those with greater orientation to new environment opportunities, fast market adaptation and more aggressive marketing tactics. As already pointed out, as the economy expands and develops, new horizons will unfold and new opportunities and challenges will open up. The environment will have no room for stagnant employees, harm strung with age long traditions. The day will be carried by the progressive and dynamic employee who is improving his/her skills all the time, who is constantly scanning the environment and identifying customers’ needs, and who in so doing carefully manages his resources  to meet diverse and competing priorities. This cannot be possible without effective employee and employer development.
Changing social values is another reason for the increasing importance and central role of human management in organization effectiveness. The changing pattern of motivation, talent and values was described by Schein (1987) as “career anchors”. Organizations need the combination of human, material and financial resources to achieve set goals. While it is commonly believed that human resource is a critical source of sustainable competitive advantage, corresponding actions in organizations are usually incongruent with this assertion. This contradiction is reflected in frequent failures to properly articulate and implement effective human resource development policies and practices, consequently, attracting and retaining core talents become serious challenges resulting in dysfunctional turnover that hampers productivity. This research therefore aims to make recommendations that will be valuable to scholars especially in Banking profession, Financial institutions, and stakeholders in establishing a sound process for helping employees develop their careers in financial institutions. The research will also prove to be useful to researchers and serve as a guideline to banks for adopting various policies and programmes to enhance the competence level of their personnel.  
Scope limitation of the study Scope
The scope of this study is Effective Human Resource Development in Financial Institutions with special reference to First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Enugu Business Development Office, Enugu.
Limitations
The following are the constraints and shortcomings which the' researcher encountered in the course of the study.
-    Lack of accurate data: There was no accurate data or information on Enugu Business Development Office since the establishment of First Bank in 1894 due to the periodic zoning system of the bank.
-    Statistical data and information about staff training and development since inception was also difficult to gather as the training centre was handicapped with complete and relevant information in this regard. In addition to this is the scarcity of materials with special relations to the topic as it concerns financial institutions specifically.
-    Time Factor: This was the major constraint on the part of the researcher who had to carry out the research in conjunction with her official assignments. This also prevented her from traveling to other areas where she could explore other data sources and additional information on the research.
-    Reluctant to Cooperate: The management of organization is too reluctant to disclose the required information and more so when it comes to disclosing the organizational books record. The idea equally affects the quality of facts given in the research some do pith pact to suit the firm.
Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to address eh task set to address the objectives (purpose) of this study.  The questions raised.
1.    What are the human resources development strategies of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), plc Enugu in Business office?
2.    What are the factors militating against the implementation of human resources, development policies in FBN.
3.    What are the possible solutions that will lead to full attainment of human resources development in FBN, Enugu Business office.
Definition of Terms
•    Training: The process of learning the skills that you need to do a job.
•    Recruitment: To find new people to join a company or particular purpose.
•    Strategy: A plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose.
•    Inevitable: Something that you cannot avoid or prevent.
•    Integration: The act or process of contributing two or more things together so that they can Work.
•    Human resources: This is defined as part of management process concern with the maintenance of human relation and assuring the physical well being of employee so that they can give maximum contribution to efficient Working. It is purely a thing of interest, really it is a par.
•    Worker: A Worker is an employee who Works for a member of the working class.
•    Training: Training is the systematic development of the skills and attitudes required by an individual to perform adequately a given job.
•    Recruitment: To find new people to join a company, an organization or firm.
•    Strategy: This is a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose.
•    Management: This is the coordination of' human and material resources in an organization.
•    Productivity: Productivity is that which people can produce with the smallest amount effort Productivity is a ratio to calculate how well an organization or individual, industry, country converts input belongings, labor, materials; machines etc. into goods and services.