📄 Abstract
Regardless of the digital growth and financial reforms, numerous Nigerians still lack formal financial access, which raises the question of how effective mobile banking and microfinance have been in promoting financial inclusion. It is against this backdrop that this study aims to assess the role mobile banking and microfinance play in promoting financial inclusion within the Nigerian digital financial ecosystem, particularly in the northcentral region. To achieve this, the study adopted a quantitative approach using a structured and close-ended questionnaire to collect data. Both convenience and snowballing sampling techniques were used to sample population members. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages while inferential statistics such as structural equation modelling. These were done via the aid of SPSS 28 and AMOS 28. The study’s results demonstrated that mobile banking and microfinance together account for 78% of financial inclusion in the region. It also showed that mobile banking has a positive but insignificant effect on financial inclusion [b=0.132, t=1.379, p=0.168] while microfinance has a positive and significant effect on financial inclusion [b=0.827, t=5.514, p < 0.05]. In addition, the study revealed that mobile banking and microfinance are widely adopted in the region, and identified concerns about fraud and security, poor internet connectivity, limited access to microfinance institutions amongst others as some challenges facing the wider adoption of these services. The study therefore recommends that the government should drive financial inclusion in the northcentral region by building more microfinance institutions since the people are more inclined towards such financial services. This study contributes to the extant literature on inclusive finance in emerging economies and is significant in light of the growing interest in the different ways financial technology is driving economic development in emerging economies.
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📚 How to Cite:
Agbakwuru, K. N, Babatunde Fanisi , THE ROLE OF MOBILE BANKING AND MICROFINANCE SOLUTIONS IN PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION: A STUDY OF NIGERIA’S DIGITAL FINANCIAL ECOSYSTEM , Volume 12 , Issue 8, August 2026, EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) , Pages: 64 - 72 ,