Microfinance mission drift in Nigeria

Using panel data methodology, the study employs dataset of 752 microfinance banks (MFBs) during the period 2011 to 2014, to test for the existence of mission drift in Nigeria. The result suggests that sustainable microfinance banks tend to be more focused on poor clients, which implies increased depth of outreach of microfinance banks in Nigeria. This result allays fear that clients who are better off could crowd out poorer customers in a sustainable microfinance scheme. In view of this finding, the study concludes that sustainability and outreach are not necessarily incompatible.