Financial Inclusion as a Panacea for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Increasing evidence strongly supports financial inclusion as a potent tool for inclusive growth. This study, therefore, employs the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) methodology to investigate the relationship between financial inclusion and inclusive growth with the hope of establishing the importance of the former to the latter towards achieving sustainable development in Nigeria. The study found a long-run relationship between financial inclusion and inclusive growth indices in Nigeria. The ARDL result also showed that the indices of financial inclusion deepen the age dependency ratio but increase output per person employed, gross national income per capita and CO₂ emission. The study infers from the findings that easy, cheap, and inclusive access to finance would help Nigeria in its drive towards sustainable growth and development. It therefore recommends that policymakers in Nigeria should seek more financial  innovations to provide efficient and effective financial services to its financially-excluded citizens.