Financial Inclusion as a Tool for Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria

This study is carried out with the objective to carefully examine financial Inclusion in a developing country and how it helped reduced poverty in Nigeria, ascertain if financial institutions facilitate more access to credit facilities, and to investigate the causes of financial exclusion in Nigeria. Developed countries have realised that there are complex and multi-dimensional factors that contribute to financial exclusion; hence, variety of providers, products and technologies that best suits the socio-economic, political, cultural and geographical conditions in these countries have been introduced accordingly. The Nigerian banking system is growing but at a semi fast rate when compared to other international institutions. This is perhaps due to the limited level of exposure of its services to the public thereby resulting to a low level of access to these facilities. Access and use of the services that banks have to offer is one of the primary driving factors of further growth. Financial inclusion is critical as increasing the poor¿s access to financial services is often considered as an effective tool that can help reduce poverty and lower income inequality.