AN APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE BANKs IN BAUCHI METROPOLIS ON POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION

Abstract

Poverty alleviation which is a set of measure both economical and humanitarian that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. While employment generation is a natural social development. Human beings bring with them into the world an array of needs that present employment opportunities for others to meet. This study is aimed at determining theextent Micro Finance Banks in Bauchi have gone in alleviating poverty and employment generation. The methodology adopted and used for this research is that of Survey research. Both Primary and secondary were used for the research. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire from the population of 999 staff out of which 286 were selected using stratified sampling. For the secondary data Books, Journals, Central Bank publications where the major source of information. Correlation and regression techniques were employed, data collected analyzed. Findings showed that when the activities of Microfinance Banks increases, socio-economic development of the active poor will be enhanced significantly. The poor risk management and internal control state in microfinance banks contributes greatly to a high rate of nonperforming loans. Microfinance banks are undercapitalized and this affects their optimum operation.  It is recommended that Microfinance Banks should be seen as a poverty eradication tool rather than a fund generating or money-making tool