INFLUENCE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE IN THE NIGERIAN BANKING SECTOR

The study investigated the influence of corporate governance and organisational politics on corporate performance of the Nigerian banking sector using 1486 staff of the four main banks in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria namely: First Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc. A descriptive survey was used as the research design. A researcher-designed structured questionnaire (CGOPCP) was used for data collection. The questionnaire had a reliability index of 0.82 obtained using the Cronbach Alpha analysis. Research questions were answered with means and standard deviations, while a One-way Analysis of Variance was used to test the formulated null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The study found that poor implementation of sound corporate governance (fairness, accountability, responsibility, and transparency) and organisational politics (political skills, performance evaluation, availability of resources, and investment in the organisation) contributed to the poor corporate performance of Nigerian banks. It was recommended that adequate and efficient implementation of sound corporate governance evidenced by its elements of fairness, accountability, responsibility, and transparency should be the mantra of every organisational operation while the positive side of organisational politics evident by its elements of political skills, performance evaluation schedule, availability of resources, and investment in the organisation should be strictly adhered to if corporate performance is to be achieved in the Nigerian banking sector. Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) whose duty it is to supervise and monitor the banking sector should redouble its effort to put the Nigerian banking sector on the right footing among its contemporaries in the world