Mobile Payment Technology and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria

The main purpose of the study was to examine the effect of mobile payment technology on poverty alleviation in Nigeria. The study was carried out in Rivers State of Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of people living in Rivers State of Nigeria. Both multistage and purposive sampling techniques were employed to obtain a sample size of 223 respondents for the study. A structured questionnaire served as the major instrument of data collection in the study. The issue of validity and reliability of the research instrument was also addressed in the study. Data obtained from the field survey were first presented with simple descriptive statistics such as tables, frequencies, graph and percentages. The data were tested with simple regression model using the SPSS software version 25.0. Findings show that mobile payments technology was positively and significantly related to consumption expenditure of the studied respondents in Rivers State of Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study concluded that embracing digital technology is a major tool in the alleviation of poverty particularly in developing country like Nigeria. It was recommended that the Central Bank of Nigeria needs to intensify effort in building am economy that is cashless by come up with effective monetary policies that can influence the use of digital infrastructure.