Impact of Financial Inclusion of women in Africa’s Economic Development: The Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

This study examines the impact of financial inclusion in Africa’s economic development: The Nigerian perspective. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select 1000 women in Nigeria. Participants were interviewed and were requested to complete a simple questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using percentages and simple regression. The findings showed that financial inclusion of women has a significant impact on economic development in Nigeria. This implies that when more women are included in the formal financial services, it will result to more economic development. The study recommended among other things that financial institutions and regulatory authorities should strive to remove those bottlenecks impeding the financial inclusion of women especially those in the rural areas, that access to credit in the formal financial services sector should be made more affordable and stress free for women generally so as to boost their productivity and that financial service providers should endeavor to provide more financial products tailored to serve the needs of women and other such excluded groups.

Keywords: Bank account, Economic development, Financial inclusion, Mobile account.

 

Introduction

What is financial inclusion?

Financial inclusion involves the provision of a broad range of high-quality financial products like Savings, Credit, Insurance, Payments and Pensions, which are relevant, appropriate and affordable for the entire adult population especially the low-income group. It includes the delivering of basic banking services at affordable cost to all sections of the society, especially the most disadvantaged and low-income groups including women who tend to be excluded from the formal banking system (CBN, 2020)

Evidence worldwide shows that access to financial services contributes both to economic growth and wealth creation and is therefore key to tackling the “Poverty” trap in most economies. An inclusive financial sector is characterized by the diversity of financial services providers, the level of competition between them and the legal and regulatory environments that ensure the integrity of the financial sector and access to financial services for all.

Economic development on its own involves programmes, policies and/or activities that seeks to improve the economic well-being and quality of life of a community.; it is the process whereby simple low-income National economies are transformed into modern industrial economies. It implies economic growth plus progressive changes in certain important variables which determine the well-being of the people.

Women play a crucial role in the economic development of any society as they are found to be more efficient in resource utilization. However, they face a number of challenges prominent among which is inclusion in the formal financial system as a result of regulatory, socio economic and cultural factors.

Most Africa women are among the disadvantaged and low-income groups that are excluded from the formal banking system in most cases. According to Global Findex data (2014), financial exclusion affects a particularly high proportion of women, young people and people living in rural areas. For traditional banks, building brick-and-mortar branches in low-population density areas is typically not economically viable. Even those who do have a current account often lack access to other basic financial services, including savings accounts, loans and insurance products. With only 34% of adults formally banked, there is huge potential for the development of financial services in Africa to meet the needs of the unbanked.

The Global Findex Database (2021) shows that the gap in access to financial services between men and women dropped to 4 percentage points for the first time in the past decade. Worldwide, 78 percent of men now have an account, compared to 74 percent of women. In developing economies, the gap is somewhat larger at 6 percentage points (74 percent of men with an account compared to 68 percent of women). Despite this general trend toward narrowing gender gaps in developing economies, barriers such as lack of identification or a mobile phone, distance from a bank branch, and low financial capability continue to hamper women’s ability to participate in the formal financial system. These barriers may contribute as well to the fact that women report low levels of financial resilience—meaning, they are unable to easily come up with money to deal with an emergency within 30 days. Programs aimed at expanding financial inclusion through the digitalization of cash payments can help increase both financial access and use in a way that improves women’s lives.

Financial inclusion for women has been shown to bring multiple benefits, including more influence over their household’s spending priorities, less dependence on riskier income sources, and more resilience to weather through unexpected expenses. In the Philippines, for example, women who used commitment savings products that encouraged regular deposits into a personal account increased their household decision-making power and shifted their spending to household goods relevant to their needs, such as washing machines. In Kenya, areas with high mobile money access had a 9-percentage point smaller share of women in poverty, and their consumption was higher by more than 18.5 percent, compared with that in areas with limited mobile money access. Also, in India, a government workfare program that reached over 100 million people showed that paying women their benefits directly into their own account (and not into the account of a male household head) increased their financial control and encouraged women to find employment, compared with those paid in cash. Given the positive potential benefits of financial access for women, there is cause for optimism that in the near future a greater percentage of the women population will be financially included.

The objective of this study is to establish the impact of financial inclusion of women in Africa’s economic development in Africa; the Nigerian perspective. The study is divided into five sections: Introduction, Conceptual and relevant literature reviews, Methodology, Presentation and Discussions of results and finally Conclusion and Recommendations.

 Conceptual and Literature reviews.

Aduda and Kalunda (2012) defined financial inclusion as a process of ensuring access to financial products and services needed by all sections of the society in general particularly the vulnerable, weaker sections, and low-income groups, fairly, transparently and at an affordable cost while Borgohain and Borah (2015) defined financial inclusion as a process that ensures easy access to financial services in an economy.

Elements of Financial Inclusion

Across the world, the elements of financial inclusion are acknowledged. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Financial Inclusion is that which is achieved when adults have easy access to a broad range of formal financial services that meet their needs and are provided at an affordable cost. These financial services include payments, Savings, Credit, Insurance, Pension, and Capital market products. The definition by CBN highlights the following elements of financial inclusion:

1. Ease of access to financial products and services by all section of the society.
2. Usage of a full spectrum of financial services.
3. Financial products that are designed to meet the needs of clients as well as their income levels and distribution channels.
4. Affordable financial services even for low-income groups.

Some of the strategies adopted by the CBN for achieving financial inclusion targets as stated in National Financial Inclusion Strategy include: –

1. a) Agents’ Banking: -This involves the delivery of banking services outside the traditional bank branches through touch points such as existing retail stores and petrol stations or through technology such as “Point of Sale” (POS) devices and mobile phones. Agent Banking as observed by (king’ang’ai et al 2016) is a type of banking that is branchless where third parties are used by the bank in performing some of the activities that are traditionally performed in banking halls by bank personnel. The CBN in a research in 2013 described Agent Banking as the provision of the authority by a bank to a third party so that he/she can serve the bank customers on its behalf.

A Point of Sale machine on the other hand is a payment device that allows credit/debit card holders to make payment at sales or purchase outlets.

1. b) Mobile Banking: -This involves accessing financial services using mobile phones that are either directly linked to a bank account or the use of mobile wallets as intermediary virtual money accounts. In mobile banking, multidimensional services which are accessible through mobile phones enable customers to conduct financial transactions like getting account balance and financial statement, requesting checks and transferring money/credit from one account to another.
2. c) Linkage Models: -These are models for enhancement of financial and business cooperation between traditional financial institutions, government and microfinance banks/institution for providing wholesale funding for on-lending transactions.
3. d) Client Empowerment: -This involves more people being brought into the formal financial system through coordinated financial literacy initiatives complemented by consumer protection programmes and policies.

 Importance of Financial Inclusion: –

Generally speaking, it has been observed that financial inclusion boosts or helps develop the financial system of any economy and this will ultimately lead to growth and eventual development of the economy. Also, according to Beck et al microeconomic evidences abound to show that economies with deeper financial intermediation tend to grow faster with reduction in income inequalities. Okoye et al (2017) in their study that investigated the effect of financial inclusion on economic development in Nigeria found that financial inclusion promotes Poverty alleviation in Nigeria through rural credit delivery.

It improves household welfare and spurs small enterprise activities. Also, financial inclusion helps banks to increase their pool of deposit which boosts their resilience to financial shocks that they are prone to from time to time. Financial inclusion works with commercial banks’ lending rates to stimulate monetary policies. (Evans 2016).

It should therefore be noted that attaining financial inclusion is vital for an economy to achieve a sustainable and equitable economic growth given that economic growth opportunities are strongly intertwined with access to financial services and such access is especially influential on the poor and women group as it enables them grow savings, make investments and benefit from credit.

Specifically speaking, achieving more financial inclusion would help the Central Bank of Nigeria attain its core objectives of: –

1. Ensuring monetary and price stability: the CBN will be in a better position to influence savings, investment and consumption behavior through interest and exchange rate changes, which is a direct result of the increase participation of Nigerians in the formal financial sector.
2. Issuance of legal tender: increased penetration of e-payments uses and cashless efforts will reduce the cost of cash management thereby reducing the cost of issuing legal tender by the CBN.

• Maintaining external reserves: as a way of safeguarding the international value of the naira, increased access to finance by MSMEs as a result of financial inclusion will lead to greater productivity and increased earnings from non-oil export which will stabilize the value of the naira.

1. Promoting a sound financial system: financial inclusion will lead to the development of a stable financial system that is funded by non-volatile savings and this can provide cushion against external shocks in the economy.
2. Providing economic and financial advice to the Federal Government: the CBN will be in a better position to offer this advice as increased participation in formal finance or financial inclusion will produce a more complete picture of the country’s economic performance.

 National Financial Inclusion Strategy

In 2012 the CBN articulated a National Financial Inclusion Strategy for Nigeria and identified areas of focus to include: –

1. Transformation of existing Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations to allow individuals who do not currently meet formal identification requirements to enter the banking system.
2. Development and Implementation of a Regulatory Framework for Agent Banking to enable financial institutions to accommodate more of the unbanked populace.
3. Development and Implementation of a National Financial Literacy Framework to increase awareness and understanding of financial products and services, with the ultimate goal of increasing sustainable usage.
4. Implementation of comprehensive Consumer Protection Framework to safeguard the interest of clients and sustain confidence in the financial sector.
5. Continued pursuance of mobile payment system and other cash-less policies to reduce the cost and increase the ease of financial services and transactions.
6. Implementation of Credit Enhancement Schemes/Programmes to empower micro, small, and medium scale enterprises.

National Financial Inclusion Strategy targets are shown in table 1.

Table 1: National Financial Inclusion Strategy targets.

	TARGETS	2010	2015	2020
% of total adult pop.	Payments	21.6%	53%	70%
	Savings	24%	42%	60%
	Credits	2%	26%	40%
	Insurance	1%	21%	40%
	Pensions	5%	22%	40%
Units per 100,000 adults	Bank branches	6.8%	7.5%	7.6%
	MFB branches	2.9%	4.5%	5.0%
	ATMs	11.8%	88.5%	203.6%
	POS	13.3%	442.6%	850.0%
	Mobile Agents	0	31	62
% of Pop.	KYC ID	18%	59%	100%

Source: CBN Statistical Bulletin, 2021

 

Between October 2017 and June 2018, the 2012 National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) was reviewed as a way of assessing the state of Financial Inclusion in Nigeria. The 2018 NFIS provides revised objectives, priorities and principles for driving financial inclusion based on the observed limitations or barriers.

 Barriers to Women’s Financial Inclusion in Nigeria

According to Defina, Van Roosebeke and Manga (2021), the reasons for gaps in financial inclusion may be very diverse and encompass a lack of trust by consumers in financial institutions, high transaction or monetary costs associated with accessing financial services, deficiencies in financial literacy, a lack of sufficient documentation of identity, or a prospective lack of profitability for financial institutions in doing business with customers.

In Nigeria, some of the barriers to Women’s financial inclusion include:

1. Insufficient Agent Networks: Agent networks are not enough to allow for expansion of financial services especially in rural areas. Also, women in rural areas do not trust agents especially when they are recruited from outside the community. The agents themselves are not encouraged by the low cash in /cash out commissions they receive, coupled with the fact that Mobile Network Operation (MNOs) cannot use agent networks for Digital Financial Services (DFS).
2. Lack of National Identity: Many women are yet to obtain National Identity cards and this has affected National Identity Numbers (NIN) registration and by extension limited such people to only tier 1 accounts. Tier 1 requirements limit the number of individuals that can access a full range of financial services. The National Identity Management commission (NIMC) is yet to roll out NIN at the desired pace and have not been able to harmonize IDs to create a consolidated data base.

 

• Digital Financial Services not being fully exploited: Digital financial services have not been fully exploited in Nigeria due to a number of reasons. One of which is the fact that Mobile Network Operators are only allowed to offer digital financial services with a special purpose vehicle. Also, high capital requirements limit the ability of Mobile Money Operators to invest. For example, many Microfinance Banks lack the necessary funds and know-how to build Digital Financial Services Infrastructure. The level of financial literacy of users of these digital platforms also imposes some setbacks.

1. Community Lending Services by Microfinance Institutions not being fully exploited: Microfinance institutions are restrained by stringent regulatory requirement in their ability to make National impact on Financial inclusion and so the opportunity to capitalize on their potential to serve women, youth and the rural populace is not being harnessed. Most Microfinance Banks are not connected to a switch thereby increasing their costs and processing time.
2. Insufficient tailored product design: There are few products tailored to serve such excluded groups like women, Youth, rural people and SME’s. Financial services providers lack understanding of the needs of these target group and in the face of short-term pressure for returns are unwilling to make long term investments required to capture the excluded groups. There are some other limiting factors like Bank usage, proximity to a bank branch etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure1: Mobile Money Accounts owned by women as compared to men in Sub-Sahara Africa

Source: The Global Findex Database 2021

In 2021, there were 15 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa in which 20 percent or more of adults have only a mobile money account, and not another type of financial account (see Figure 1). In these, all but Uganda had a statistically significant gender gap for overall account ownership. Yet in 7 of these economies, women were or more likely than men to only have a mobile money account, suggesting that mobile money in these environments might be a more attractive or accessible option for women.

Technology-enabled mobile money accounts are also helping drive inclusive access to finance for younger women. The gender gap for financial institution accounts tends to grow as adults age, but it remains small for men and women who only have mobile money accounts.  Mobile money account ownership is lower among older age groups, however, and the take-up of these accounts is lower for older women compared with younger women. This highlights a factor policy makers and advocates must consider when leveraging technology to drive improvements in financial inclusion: today’s older consumers may lack digital literacy and therefore prefer traditional methods of making transactions.

More broadly, driving financial inclusion through mobile money accounts depends on people having access to mobile phones. Yet in many places around the world, a gender gap exists in mobile phone access. Among adults in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, 86 percent of men have a mobile phone, compared with 77 percent of women. Across the region, unbanked women are 7 percentage points more likely than unbanked men to cite the lack of a mobile phone as one of the reasons they do not have a mobile money account. (Notably, a mobile phone access gap is not universal in the region—economies such as Cameroon and Zambia do not have a gender gap in mobile phone access and in Zimbabwe, women are more likely than men to have a mobile phone.)

 Strategies for Enhancing Financial Inclusion in Nigeria.

Having observed some of these limitations there is the need therefore to chart a way forward to expand financial inclusion. Some of the ways to achieve this will be by: –

1. Expanding agent networks: Since agents play vital roles in offering low- income people access to financial services and providing alternatives to bank branches or other physical financial access points there is need to have many functional agent networks that will help extend financial services to the unbanked. This could be achieved by the lowering entering requirements for all players and allowing market forces to determine price of services without jeopardizing consumer protection.
2. Expanding Digital Financial Services: Digital channels do facilitate the scope and reach of financial services to the excluded group by using technologies to offer low-cost and sustainable financial services, therefore such channels should be expanded to render wider services. Government agencies should provide enabling environment that will allow providers of digital financial services to optimize financial inclusion while at the same time maintaining stability in the financial sector as well as protecting consumers’ interests. Also, the telecommunication sector should be able to provide the necessary infrastructure for Digital Financial Services providers to deploy their services efficiently and at affordable prices. By so doing such issues as service failures will be minimized and customer’s complaints treated promptly.
3. Harmonization of Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements: Since a verifiable ID is a prerequisite for accessing formal financial services, there is need therefore to harmonize know your customer requirements to increase access to financial services. This harmonization will reduce the KYC hurdles to financial inclusion and so the relevant agencies should achieve universal coverage and accessibility of National Identity System, for example, by making National Identity Numbers (NIN) mandatory for all government related and business transactions in the country. As of now many Nigerians do not have National Identity cards and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is not able to roll out NIN at the desired pace and is still in the process of harmonizing IDs to create a consolidated national database.
4. Creating a conducive environment for serving the most excluded groups: There is need to create a conducive environment for serving the most excluded groups like women, youth, and small-scale enterprises through the development of specialized products. Here also community-based financial institutions are expected to play greater roles in reaching out to women. Government should use its regulatory and supervisory powers to strengthen existing institutional arrangements like development and delivery of micro savings, credit, pension, micro and agricultural insurance products for excluded women and girls. Alongside this is the need to improve the security situation in the country to protect the girl child and women to build confidence.
5. Making full use of cashless payment channels: With the introduction of the CBN’s cashless policy a lot of channels were established to drive it through. These channels should now be incorporated fully into achieving a greater financial inclusion in the country. For example, government should use e-payment for goods and services it consumes like payment of contractors and tax remittances. Also, mobile money operators should deliver financial services to rural areas and other excluded groups through such cashless payment channels.

As noted by Demirguc-Kunt, Klapper, and Singer (2013), by promoting financial inclusion, we help address and reduce inequalities, thereby reducing poverty and improving economic development.

Recent studies conducted in Ethiopia show that economically affluent mothers possess better means to protect their daughters from early marriage, ensuring improved future prospects and this will ultimately have significant impact on the economy of the country (Muchomba, 2021)

Additionally, a study focusing on Ethiopian women in Debre-Birhan town highlights the critical role played by women’s active engagement in economic activities in alleviating household poverty (Muchomba, 2021). Consequently, women’s empowerment extends its positive effects beyond the women themselves, benefiting a significant number of individuals within their families and communities.

However, pervasive gender inequality continues to persist globally and is intrinsically tied to underdevelopment (Jayachandran, 2015). Within most Global South countries, women often lack control over economic resources and face higher poverty rates compared to men (Munoz et al., 2018). For instance, in developing countries, a significant proportion of married women depend on their husbands for major financial decisions and lack autonomy over household finances (United Nations, 2015). Moreover, most women are not consulted on the utilization of their own household’s financial resources.

In their study on South Africa, Van Biljon et al. (2018) suggested that financial inclusion can assist women in overcoming intra-household gender norms and increase their bargaining power within the household. They argue that this increased bargaining power, as a result of financial inclusion, can further help women to be externally empowered to enter the labor market. The authors found that financially included women are more likely to enter the labor force, indicating that financial inclusion can play a crucial role in enhancing women’s economic empowerment.

In a similar vein, Girón et al. (2021) investigated the determinants of financial inclusion in least developed countries in Asia and Africa. Their study highlighted the exclusion of young people and women from financial inclusion and underscores the importance of education and income as key factors in increasing financial inclusion. Additionally, the study demonstrates a positive correlation between financial inclusion and official savings, indicating the role of financial inclusion in promoting development. Examining gender inequality in financial inclusion within the Middle East and North Africa, Kazemikhasragh et al. (2022) found lower financial inclusion rates for women in the region. The study identifies gender, age, education, and income as significant determinants of financial inclusion. It emphasizes the need for policy interventions to address gender disparities and enhance financial inclusion, as this can contribute to higher levels of official savings and overall development.

Financial inclusion is normally defined either as the access to different financial products and services or as the proportion of enterprises and individuals who use these services (Kim, 2016). Conversely, financial exclusion reflects the incapacity of some social groups to access the financial system (Carbo, Gardener, & Molyneux, 2005), which leads to lower levels of investment due to lack of credit and the consequent need for people to turn to the informal sector to obtain credit at very high interest rates (Kim, 2016).

3.0 Methodology

This study is designed as a descriptive survey research, covering the entire Nigerian economy. Purposive sampling techniques was used to get people’s view on the subject matter.

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to anlyze the sample opinions from respondents.

The model used is:-

ED = β_o + β₁WFI + U

_Where:

   _{ED = Economic Development}

   _{WFI=Women financial Inclusion}

β_{o = Constant}

β_{1 = Slope of the regression line}

U = error term

 

4.0 Results and Discussions

Table 1 is an analysis of the age distribution of the respondents

Age	Number	%
Less than 20 years	100	10
21-30years	350	35
31-40years	400	40
Above 40years	150	15
Total	1000	100

Source: field survey 2023

While 100 of the respondents representing 10%, are below the age of 20years, 150 of the women are above 40 years. A total of 750 (350 + 400) of the women who participated in the survey, representing about 75%, fall between the ages of 19 and 40 signifying a significant youth population.

Table 2 is an analysis of the qualification of the respondents.

Qualification	Number	%
Non	100	10
Primary	350	35
Junior secondary	250	25
Senior secondary	200	20
Tertiary	100	10
Total	1000	100

Source: Field survey 2023

Table 2 shows that only 100 women, representing 10%, claimed to have any form of higher education. About 20% hold senior secondary school certificates while a majority of the participants, 70% either have not been to school or received only basic education

Table 3: Responses on financial inclusion

Forms of inclusion	Number	%
Formal bank account	300	30
Mobile account	150	15
Access to credit	550	55
Total	1000	100

Source: Field survey 2023.

It is evident from table 3 that majority of the sampled women get financially included through credit facilities that could have been provided by the informal financial institutions and 300 have formal bank accounts while only 150 have mobile account.

Table 4: Opinion on the requirements for financial inclusion as the factor responsible for women exclusiveness.

Response	Number	%
Strongly agree	600	60
Agree	200	20
Undecided	50	5
Disagree	100	10
Strongly disagree	50	5
Total	1000	100

Source: Field Survey,2023

As shown in table 4, a total of 800(600 + 200) or about 80% of the respondents agreed that certain requirement or conditions are responsible for the exclusion of women in the formal financial system while 5% were undecided, 5% equally disagreed.

Table 5: Opinion on whether women financial inclusion is critical for economic development.

Response	Number	%
Strongly Agreed	650	65
Agreed	200	20
Undecided	50	5
Disagreed	100	10
Strongly disagreed	0	0
Total	1000	100

Source: Field survey,2023

Table 5 shows that a total of 850(650 + 200) or about 85% of the respondents agreed the women financial inclusion is critical for economic development and 10% disagreed with this position while 5% were undecided.

Table 6a Model Summary

Model	R	R square	Adjusted R Sqaure	Std. Error of the Estimation
1	.825a	.680	.679	.44583

1. Predictor:(Constant), Women Financial inclusion

Table 6b Coefficients^a

Model			Standardized Coefficient
	B	Std. Error	Beta	t	Sig.
1(Constant) Women financial inclusion	-.600 1.077	.229 .050	.825	-2.621 21.329	.009 .000

1. Dependent Variable: Economic Development

Based on the model, the regression line ED = -0.600 + 1.077 WFI indicates that the economy will develop by 1.077 for every increase in women financial inclusion. The P-value of 0.000 is less than the t-value of 0.05. Thus, the study showed that women financial inclusion has significant impact on economic development in Nigeria. This is corroborated by the correlation coefficient(r) of 0.825 that shows strong relationship and the coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.680 which indicates that 68% of variation in the development can be explained by Women Financial inclusion.

It is evident from the above analyses that women financial inclusion is positively related to the economic development of Nigeria, and by extension to the economic development of Sub-Sahara Africa and the entire African continent. This implies that when more women are financially included, the economy will do much better. This finding is consistent with that of Girón et al. (2021) and (Muchomba,2021)

 

5.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

The study concludes from the findings that women’s financial inclusion is key to the development of every economy especially that of Africa and so it recommends that:

1. Financial institutions and regulatory authorities should strive to remove those bottlenecks impeding the financial inclusion of women especially those in the rural areas.
2. Central banks should intensify their efforts in creating financial awareness among women and girls so they can become more financially literate.
3. Bank Agents should be closely monitored to ensure due diligence that will build confidence and trust in the formal financial system to motivate more women inclusion.
4. Access to credit in the formal financial services sector should be made more affordable and stress free for women generally to boost their productivity.
5. Financial Service providers should endeavor to provide more products tailored to serve the needs of women and other such excluded groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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