The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele has said that the Nigerian banking sector is strong in spite of the fact that some banks failed its stress test.

Emefiele said this during a media briefing on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund holding in Washington DC.

He said the Nigerian banking sector remain strong and would continue to meet its obligation to the economy.

The CBN governor said the fact that some banks its stress test was not enough to make the banks to become weak to the extent of not meeting its obligation.

He said the strategic health of Nigerian banks remain strong, noting that the apex bank would continue to engage the banks to ensure that they do not fall short of the major parameters set by the CBN.

He said, “The strategic health of the Nigerian banking industry remain very strong and the Central Bank had as a matter of policy since 2015 tried to avoid being sensational about stress testing.

“Stress testing has become part of our normal routine in trying to check the health of all the banks in the industry.

“So what you will find is that from time to time, if one bank fails one ratio, we advise the bank to improve on that ratio or if its capital adequacy or liquidity or prudential ratios that we prescribe to the banking industry.

“So the fact that you read that seven banks failed stress test does not mean that those banks are weak but what we are saying is that if Bank A fails liquidity, then we tried to address it with that bank.

“So it has nothing to do with the weakness of any bank that would lead to panic or systemic crisis in the banking industry.”