INFLUENCE OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN THE PREVAILING ECONOMIC HARDSHIP IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of cooperative societies in promoting financial
inclusion in the prevailing economic hardship in Nigeria. Two hypotheses were formulated
and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The Research design adopted for the study was
correlational research design. The population of the study comprised members of
cooperative societies in Anambra State. The sample of the study comprised 200 members of
cooperative societies in Anambra State which was arrived at through multistage sampling
technique. The instruments for data collection were two standardized questionnaires. The
data collected from the pilot test was tested using Cronbach Alpha. This yielded a reliability
coefficient of 0.87 for the first instrument while the second instrument yielded a reliability
co-efficient value of 0.85.Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to test the
hypotheses. Finding of the study revealed that cooperative societies promotefinancial
literacy and digital literacy for financial inclusion among members in the prevailing
economic hardship in Nigeria. The researcher therefore recommended among others that
Government should provide increased support to cooperative societies through funding,
technical assistance, and capacity-building programmes.