Determinants of Income Diversification in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria.

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of income diversification in Ilorin metropolis, using a collection of household data, the Simpson Index Diversity (SID) as a measure of income diversity, a multiple regression analysis of the Ordinary Least Square and qualitative social assessment method. The result obtained indicates that factors like household size, martial and educational status of the respondents, their access to electricity, commodity markets, health care services and information have to some extent influenced income diversification, with variables like the gender and age of the respondents, their residential location, access to social capital, their income, access to credit markets having little or no influence on the outcome of the study, because they fall short of our a-priori expectations. Given these result measures such as the improvement in the existing electricity supply system. Improvement and maintenance of road networks and the means of traveling to markets, provision of health care services and security, provision of information on the condition of the market, prevailing prices and types of commodities, promotion of social capital and the improvement and expansion of the existing credit markets in the metropolis were suggested.