Christian U. Amu, Ezeji Emmanuel Chigbu
The objective of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the pre and post merger and acquisition performance of banking industry in Nigeria. Aggregate banking data ranging from 1981 to 2013 were analysed for evidence of correlation between the pre-merger banking performance and post-merger banking performance in Nigeria. The results obtained from the descriptive analysis of the pre and post merger and acquisition periods shows that the banking industry performance is significantly better after the merger than before the merger. Furthermore, the Pearson correlation coefficients show that absence of relationship between the pre and post merger period. Overall, the results show that there is significant difference in the performance of Nigerian banking industry in the pre merger and post merger and acquisition periods.