THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL LITERACY ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE 
INTRODUCTION 
1.1    BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Financial literacy remains an interesting issue in both developed and developing economies, and has elicited much interest in the recent past with the rapid change in the finance landscape. OECD (2005), defines financial literacy as the combination of consumers’/investors’ understanding of financial products and concepts and their ability and confidence to appreciate financial risks and opportunities, to make informed choices, to know where to go for help, and to take other effective actions to improve their financial well-being (Miller et al., 2009). Financial literacy helps in empowering and educating consumers so that they are knowledgeable about finance in a way that is relevant to their lives and enables them to use this knowledge to evaluate products and make informed decisions. It is widely expected that greater financial knowledge would help overcome recent difficulties in advanced credit markets. Financial literacy prepares consumers for tough financial times, through strategies that mitigate risk such as accumulating savings, diversifying assets, and purchasing insurance. Financial literacy facilitates the decision making processes such as payment of bills on time, proper debt management which improve the credit worthiness of potential borrowers to support livelihoods, economic growth, sound financial systems, and poverty reduction. It also provides greater control of one’s financial future, more effective use of financial products and services, and reduced vulnerability to overzealous retailers or fraudulent schemes.
Facing an educated lot, financial regulators are forced to improve the efficiency and quality of financial services. This is because financially literate consumers create competitive pressures on financial institutions to offer more appropriately priced and transparent services, by comparing options, asking the right questions, and negotiating more effectively. Consumers on their part are able to evaluate and compare financial products, such as bank accounts, saving products, credit and loan options, payment instruments, investments, insurance coverage, so as to make optimal decisions.
Financial literacy as the name implies occupies a centre-stage in the quest to achieve an overall degree of success in an organization, (Bernheim, 2008). It also enhances to a reasonable degree, a business goal of financial profit. Thus, financial literacy (or lake thereof) has played a key role in the success and failure of our nation’s business for the past centuries. Greenspan (2002) argues that financial literacy helps to inculcate individuals with the financial knowledge necessary to create household budgets, initiate savings plans, and make strategic investment decisions.

 THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL LITERACY ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (ECONOMICS PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)