This study examines the factors that influence farmers access to formal banking credit in the rural areas of Nigeria. The data used was collected from rural areas of Katsina State. This study used probit modelling approach to analyse the factors that influence farmers' accessibility to formal credit. This study found that the level of income, collateral, educational attainment and marital status have significant positive influence on farmers' access to formal credit, while age and sex have insignificant positive influence on the farmers' access to credit. On the other hand, interest rate and transaction cost have significant negative influence on the farmers' access to formal credit. Thus, this paper concluded that with the prevailing banking arrangement in Nigeria, rural farmers have little or no access to credit from conventional banks. Therefore, the study recommended the use of both group lending arrangement and character lending, so that farmers in the rural areas could be reached with formal credit.

Unemployment and poverty are endemic among Nigerian youth in spite of numerous approaches to curtail the menace Access to credit is critical to enable the poor to transform their production systems and thus exit poverty. It is a well known fact that an efficient financial sector that responds to the needs of the private sector increases investment, enhances economic growth, and creates job opportunities which is one of the major challenges for developing economies. This paper examines the role of credit deepening on youth empowerment and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The approach of the paper is qualitative and uses content analysis; literature was reviewed and thereafter conclusion was drawn based on the literature weight. It is however important to note that economic empowerment through accessibility to credit could be achieved if and only if factors like collateral, interest rate, transaction cost and financial literacy, among others that pose challenges in accessing credit are remedied Specifically we recommend Indian model (Bharatia Yuva Shakti).

The Nigerian tax reform in the early 1990s was a fallout of market reform in the mid-1980s, while the structural adjustment program (SAP) piloted a transition to market driven economy where emphasis is laid on market forces with minimal government intervention, hence, the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) in 1994. This study empirically examined the impact of VAT on the level of economic activities in Nigeria from its inception to 2014. The study uses secondary data which was analyzed using Johansen (1988) co-integration test. The quarterly data ranged from 1994 Q4 to 2014 Q4. The study found evidence of a significant positive impact of VAT on economic growth. In the same vein, other government revenues, which include all oil receipts and other receipts into the federation account other than VAT were also found to be positively related to economic growth during the study period. The study, therefore, recommends that VAT should be sustained hence; all identified administrative loopholes should be covered for VAT revenue to continue to contribute more significantly to economic growth of the country. There should also be accountability and transparency in the management of all sources of government revenue.

Abstract"This study examines the extent to which customers" personal characteristics have influence on the banking bahaviour of customers. The study uses primary data which was collected from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. A sample of 383 respondents was used cutting across staff, students and petty business operators within the community. The study uses Logistic regression model to analyse the data. The results of the study indicated that age, marital status, and occupation have negative influence on the banking bahviour of customers while, educational qualification and monthly income have positive influence. The study therefore recommends that those factors with positive influence should be closely watched whenever banks are looking for customers in the community and other communities with similar features."

Enhancing access to formal financial services especially credit to the rural populace has been identified as a means of reducing poverty in developing countries. This paper investigates whether access to financial services reduces poverty in Nigeria focusing specially on rural areas. A cross-sectional primary data was generated using a structured questionnaire administered on randomly selected respondents from rural areas of Katsina state. The study used multinomial logit model in examining the relationship, and the study found a negative relationship between poverty level and access to financial services. The study concludes that promoting access to formal financial services increases the level of income of the rural dwellers and thus a retarding effect on the level of poverty in the rural areas.