Remittance Expenditure Patterns and Human Development Outcomes in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between remittance expenditure patterns and its human development implications in migrant sending communities of Nigeria. In Nigeria, migrant sending communities spread across the country and the expenditure patterns of remittance receipts are likely to differ in characterization along states or geographical regions. This possibility is expected to significantly affect the human development outcomes of remittance expenditures in these communities within the country. The paper therefore probes into the extent to which human development outcomes in migrant sending communities of Nigeria can be associated with remittance expenditure patterns across the country. The study employs survey data from the World Bank Migration and Remittances Household Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2009/2010. Descriptive analyses of the data were conducted to achieve the objectives of the study. The results clearly exhibit remittance expenditure patterns across the regions of the country that are largely similar. The findings therefore provide a basis for a harmonized policy approach for channeling household remittance receipts into greater productive uses.

Keywords: Remittance, Nigeria, expenditure patterns, human development, survey data