NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Despite the huge numbers of Microfinance Banks, MFBs, operating in the country and regulatory authorities’ efforts to use them as channels for financial inclusion, investigations have confirmed that only 2.6 million of the adult population had MFB accounts.

According to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) target for MFBs, by 2020 there should be five branches of MFBs per 100,000 adults.

However, latest study by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access, EFInA, a financial sector development organisation that promotes financial inclusion in Nigeria, indicated that apart from the low patronage of MFBs by the adult population, the most commonly used micro finance product remained the savings account.

The study titled ‘The Landscape of Financial Inclusion and Microfinance In Nigeria’ is based on a total adult population of 93.5 million out of whom 80.6 per cent of those who have a MFB product, owning a savings account.

The survey, which was conducted in 2014 and released at the end of March this year, stated that of the 2.6 million adults, 2.8 per cent of total adults, that have a MFB account, 53.9 per cent were male and 46.1 per cent were female.