APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RURAL BANKING PROGRAMME

ABSTRACT: The study's overall objective is to present an appraisal of the effectiveness of rural banking programme using Lagos State as case study.The research adopted the survey descriptive design and with the aid of convenience sampling method, the researcher conveniently selected eighty (80) participant who are resident and rural bank staff as the respondent of the study. Self- structure questionnaire was issued to the respondent of which  seventy-seven (77) responses were retrieved and validated for the study. The study made use of of descriptive analysis and inferential statistics where data from field survey was analyzed using simple percentage, mean and standard deviation presented in frequencies and tables.findings of the study revealed that The function of rural banking scheme on development of rural area includes to provide small loans to the low income earners, to create employment opportunities for rural dwellers, they offer capacity building to borrowers by empowering them different skills such as use of loans and give entrepreneurship and managerial skills.However, the problems  confronting  rural banking programme in Nigeria includes  slow Progress in lending activity,haste and lack of co-ordination in branch expansion, unwillingness to meet credit need of rural farmers, difficulties in Deposit Mobilization and poor saving culture of rural people. The study therefore recommend that broader and a more comprehensive strategy, should be incorporate and utilize an appropriate mix of policy variables to enhance the effectiveness of rural banks.