An Analytical Study of the Determinants of Access to Insurance Services in Rural Nigeria

Abstract

This paper analyses the determinants of accessibility of insurance services in rural areas of Nigeria. The paper uses cross-sectional primary data sourced through a structured questionnaire from 384 respondents dwelling in rural areas of Katsina state. In analysing the data Logit modelling approach was used to find a significant positive influence of age, access to credit, educational attainment and availability of insurance services on access to insurance services. Moreover, the influence of income and gender are positive but statistically insignificant. Contrary, the study finds a significant negative influence of marital status on the accessibility of insurance services in rural areas. The study therefore concluded that deepening of insurance services in rural areas requires a special intervention taken into cognisance of religious viewpoint of these people. We recommended among other things, that while establishing micro-insurance in the rural areas of Northern Nigeria should be in conformity with the principles of Islam