Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: 1990 - 2016

This study examined the determinants of financial inclusion in Nigeria using a time series data for the period of 1990 to 2016. The study employed Error Correction Model (ECM) after conducting unit root test and cointegration test. The estimated result revealed positive and significant relationship between the financial inclusion and the proposed variables. Specifically, the higher a country’s GDP per capital, the more the financial inclusion in their financial system. Likewise the broad money given the continuous increase in the amount of money in circulation which will definitely improve financial inclusion in the country. Credit and internet users per 100 people also have positive and significant impact on financial inclusion. While the significant impacts of internet access have very vital implication for financial inclusion as the more the use of internet, the more the financial inclusion through extension of financial services to larger number of people living in the rural area without the exhaustive use of the internet, financial inclusion will be very teeny and extension who would have been excluded from the formal financial service in the country. The internet has fundamentally abridged the cost of transactions, through the use of mobile and the ATM. This has increased the capacities of credit delivery in remote areas in the country and has made it possible to provide home banking services where the accounts are operated by illiterate customers using mobiles phones.