Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: A Gender Gap Approach

Ability to have access and use financial goods and services such as bank and mobile money accounts indicates the overall financial inclusion level of an economy and the higher the indices are in any economy, the better that economy is. Financial inclusion is important to realize inclusive growth in any country. It has direct impacts on the level of growth and development experienced by any economy. It can however, be skewed along gender lines as noticed overtime in the Nigerian economy and other developing economies. This study examined financial inclusion in Nigeria: a gender gap approach. It also determined the factors responsible for the gender gaps. The Global Findex (2014) dataset of Nigeria from World Bank database was used to analyse the aims of the study. In the study, 61% of the men were financially included, while only 43% of the female were financially included, with 18% gap. The gap in endowments accounted for the huge difference of the gap in outcomes as males seemed to be more naturally favoured by society than females. The level of education, wealth quintile, saved in past 12 months for farm/business purposes, sent domestic remittances in the past 12 months, paid utility bills in the past 12 months, and received wage payments in the past 12 months are the factors explaining the gender gaps in Nigeria. Thus the government and other relevant stakeholders should encourage females along these factors.