Paper Title
Shariah Review and Product Development in Non Interest Financial Institutions in Nigeria: A Qualitative Approach

Abstract
The Shari'ah review role is played by the Advisory Committee of Experts (ACE) in product development of Non Interest Financial Institutions (NIFIs) and the committee being a component of Shari'ah governance for Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) is responsible for monitoring the NIFIs compliance with Shari'ah rules in their product development. Recently, the Shari'ah committee's role in reviewing the products of NIFIs have been criticised from several quarters. The criticism is from the observation that some Islamic banking products and transactions are not meeting the higher objectives of Shari’ah (Maqasid al-Shari'ah). It therefore raises the question of whether Shari’ah Committees are actually playing an effective role in product development of Islamic financial institutions. In Nigeria, the Shari'ah review role in product development of NIFIs has not attracted research effort in spite of the relevance of product development process on the sustainability of NIFIs. This study therefore undertook a qualitative research to investigate the effect of Shari'ah review on product development of NIFIs in Nigeria by gathering information from the Shari'ah committee members of the banks and Financial Regulatory Advisory Committee of experts (FRACE) of CBN through focus group discussion. It was found that Shari'ah review has a positive impact on product development of NIFIs in Nigeria and therefore recommended that ACE of NIFIs should be given stronger support from the management than what is obtainable currently because with more support from managers who strive to gain more awareness on Shari'ah compliance control issues and continuous training of Shari'ah scholars regarding review of products contracts and structuring, product development will be greatly strengthened during Shari'ah review. Key words - Non Interest Islamic Banks, Product Development, Shari'ah Review.