Glocalization of microfinance as a strategy to alleviate intergenerational transmission of poverty in Nigeria

Abstract

The incontrovertibility of Nigeria being a rich nation in both human and material resources makes its national status as a poverty-stricken country ironical. This study, therefore, was based on the concern for appraising the appropriateness of microfinance as the latest poverty alleviation strategy. This is in terms of global practices and local realities peculiar to Nigeria. It is quite likely that poverty in Nigeria may be linked to the financial exclusion of the poor. This frustrates their entrepreneurial activities in the sense of being able to acquire the sustainable livelihood assets they need to exit from the poverty trap they are immersed in. The main objective of this study, therefore, is to investigate the relationships that exist between financial exclusion or lack of access to micro finance services and possibility of intergenerational transmission of poverty in Nigeria as mediated by microenterprise underdevelopment and inadequate livelihood assets. The variables used in the study as well as both the conceptual and theoretical frameworks were influenced by a combination of various theories of inequality, especially the theory of imperfect credit and the sustainable livelihood model. A mixed methods approach via the quantitative and qualitative research designs and based on the pragmatism philosophical view was used at all stages of data collection, analysis and results. Relevant information was collected from some poor households in the II orin metropolis of K wara State, Nigeria using both the survey questionnaire and interview methods. Data so obtained were subjected to mixed data analysis. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) as the quantitative tool was given prominence and was complemented with a qualitative data analysis. The results indicated that both involuntary and voluntary financial exclusion barriers exist. They significantly account for the financial exclusion of the households under sample. Such financial exclusion was found to impede both the development of microenterprises and the acquisition of `sustainable livelihood assets` by the poor. However, no structural invariance was found in the baseline structural model based on demographic divides. Recommendations contingent on research findings and best global practices were offered.