Benue State University, Makurdi

AN ASSESSMENT OF MICROFINANCE BANKS AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN OTUKPO LGA OF BENUE STATE

Iorver, Paul Tyotom

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the impact of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) on Poverty Reduction in Otukpo Local Government Area. 200 questionnaires were administered to both beneficiaries and non – beneficiaries of MFBs in Otukpo using stratified random sampling for beneficiaries and purposive sampling for non – beneficiaries. Using the adult equivalence scale and dollar per day measure of poverty, there was high incidence of poverty in both categories. The Logistic regression result shows that two of the variables- age and monthly savings were both positive for all the categories while household size, educational status and marital status were negative for both categories. The T-Test of difference in real household consumption expenditure gives an insignificant mean difference of -116.1300 at 1% confidence level hence the Ho was accepted. Recommendations made include increase in minimum capital base, employment of competent management, re-location to the rural economy, constant training workshops and continuous monitoring by the CBN to enhance the performance of the programme.

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE (CLICK)