The study was carried out to assess the impact of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) on Poverty Reduction in Makurdi and Gboko Local Government Areas. A logistic regression model was used to estimate the factors influencing household poverty and t-test statistic to examine the impact of the programme. 200 questionnaires were administered to both beneficiaries and non – beneficiaries of MFBs in the study area using stratified random sampling for beneficiaries and purposive sampling for non –beneficiaries. The result showed high incidence of poverty in both categories. The non-beneficiaries however show deeper poverty more than the beneficiaries implying the relative impact of the scheme on the beneficiaries. The T-Test of difference in real household consumption expenditure gives a significant mean difference of 8.800 at 1% confidence level hence the Ho of no significant impact of MFBs was rejected. A recommendation is for the policy formulators/operators to increase the capacity of MFBs to ensure poverty reduction and economic development.
Microfinance, Poverty, Reduction, Benue State
