Original Research Article

Financial Dualism and Rural Income Earners in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

Dr. Henry Waleru Akani

Department of Banking and Finance, Rivers State University, Nkpolu - Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

E-mail: henryakani@yahoo.com

Received: 21 July 2021  I  Accepted: 24 August 2021  I  Published: 30 August 2021  I  Article ID: MRJAAEF21010
Copyright © 2021 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

This study examined the effects of financial dualism on rural low income earners in Port Harcourt city Local government area in Rivers State. The purpose was to examine the relationship between financial dualism and rural low income earners. Questionnaire was administered to 200 respondents sampled from residence of the local government. Four research questions and null hypotheses were formulated to study the effect of financial dualism on rural low income earners. Financial dualism was proxied by commercial banks operations, microfinance banks, thrift association and local money lenders. Simple percentages and spearman rank correlation coefficient was used as data analysis methods. The study found a correlation coefficient of 21.9 percent between commercial banks and rural low income earners, 59.3 percent between microfinance banks and rural low income earners, 83.7 percent between thrift associations and rural low income earners and 59.9% between local money lender and rural low income earners in Port Harcourt. from the findings, the study conclude that commercial banks have no significant effect on rural low income earners while microfinance banks, thrift association and local money lenders have significant effect on rural low income earners in port Harcourt city local government area. it recommend that Policies such as rural banking scheme, branch banking and commercial banks reform should be directed towards increasing financial access of rural low income earners in Nigeria. The operational efficiency of the microfinance institution should further be strengthened; existing challenges should be eliminated by the regulatory authorities and management to enhance its function in increasing financial access to rural low income earners and there should be law to strengthen the operational functions of the informal financial institutions, this will increase the operational efficiency and further give access to financial services to rural low income earners.

Keywords: Financial Dualism, Rural Income Earners, Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria