Impact of Migrant Remittances on Household Welfare in Nigeria

Nneji Umeokeke, University of Ibadan, department of Agricultural economics
Kayode Salman, University of Ibadan, department of Agricultural economics

Generally, households employ remittance as a coping strategy to adapt or improve overall wellbeing. The recent effect of remittances on household wealth has not being fully studied in Nigeria. This paper examines the impact of remittances on household’s expenditure and wealth (asset accumulation) in Nigeria using the Nigeria 2015/2016 General Household survey data. Propensity score matching and endogenous switching regression models was used to evaluate welfare status of the households. Result shows that remittance has an impact on the household’s expenditure with average treatment effect and average treatment effect on treated of ?16772 and -?2311 respectively and a significant effect on wealth of 1.12 and 0.79 respectively indicating a strong and positive relationship between remittance and wealth than on expenditures. The study suggests quality education, provision of sustainable jobs by both private and government that stimulates investment and result in better use of transfers.