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The study investigated the impact of digital financial inclusion (DFI) on poverty reduction in Nigeria, disaggregating DFI into three distinct dimensions: penetration, availability, and usage. The study adopts a quantitative, longitudinal research design utilising annual time-series secondary data from 2008 to 2024 (17 years), sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, National Bureau of Statistics, and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System. Three separate Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models were estimated, with financial literacy serving as a mediating variable. Findings revealed that financial penetration has a negative and statistically significant effect on poverty (α = -0.0342, p = 0.033), financial availability has a negative but statistically non-significant effect at the 5% level (γ = -2.891, p = 0.079), and financial usage has a negative and statistically significant effect on poverty (δ = -2.145, p = 0.048). Among the three models, financial usage demonstrated the highest explanatory power (R-squared = 0.61). The study concludes that while all three dimensions of financial inclusion contribute to poverty reduction in Nigeria, active usage of digital financial services exerts the largest impact. It recommends that the Central Bank of Nigeria should prioritise mobile money adoption by reducing transaction costs and expanding agent networks to close the poverty gap effectively.

Digital Financial Inclusion, Poverty Gap, Fintech, Nigeria, Longitudinal Analysis, Mobile Money. Introduction Poverty remains one of the most persistent developmental challenges confr, with Nigeria unfortunately occupying the unenviable position of being the poverty capital of the wor, an estimated 104 million Nigerians live below the national poverty line, representing over 40 per cent of the population. This paradox is particularly striking given that Ni, endowed with vast human and natural resources, including the largest crude oil reserves on the continent (Oxford Economics, 2023). The persistence of widespread poverty despite significant macroeconomic growth has compelled, development economists, and international financial institutions to search for innovative, scalable, and sustainable poverty reduction strategies that go beyond traditional welfare interventions,