DETERMINANTS OF CUSTOMERS' PATRONAGE OF ISLAMIC BANKING IN NIGERIA: THE CASE OF JAIZ BANK PLC.

This paper examines the factors that determine the decision of customers to patronize Islamic bank in Nigeria. More than past three decades, Islamic banking has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries which has spread to all corners of the globe and has received wide acceptance by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The study was undertaken to fill an existing gap of lack of previous studies in Nigeria on what factors determine customers' patronage of Islamic bank which came into operation after long period of delay and in the face of stiff resistance from some non Muslims. The objectives of this study include the examination of the main factors that influence customers' decision to patronize an Islamic bank in Nigeria and also to examine the attitude of customers towards Islamic banking and the level of familiarity of customers with Islamic bank products.The study relies on data obtained from self administered questionnaires served on 500 randomly selected Jaiz bank customers in Abuja; Kaduna and Kano of which 223 were analyzed using spss. Regression analysis was carried out which revealed three predictor variables were statistically significant in their association with a decision to patronize Islamic bank. The paper recommends greater improvement in service quality by the bank and sustained adherence to Islamic injunctions by the bank with respect to its operations.