Migrant remittance and quality of life in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria has persistently faced challenges such as high unemployment rates, a steep cost of living, and inadequate infrastructure, leading to a significant portion of its workforce migrating to supposedly more prosperous economies to support their families back home. It is on this grounds that this paper investigates the effect of diaspora transfers on the quality of life in Nigeria from 1986 to 2022. The research depends on secondary data obtained from World Bank development indicators and employs both descriptive statistics and econometric techniques, including Auto-Regressive Distributed Lags (ARDL). The results of the study connote that diaspora remittances negatively affect household consumption expenditure and access to education in Nigeria. However, while the effect on household consumption expenditure and access to education is statistically significant, the effect on access to health is not statistically significant at the 5% threshold. Consequently, the study recommends that the government partner with financial institutions and international organizations to enhance transparency, reduce transaction costs, facilitate access to formal channels, and promote financial literacy among recipients of remittances.