CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

BACKGOUND TO THE STUDY

The Nigerian Economy has been unstable. It has witnessed a lot of downturn over the years. Since the oil boom of the 80’s, the state of the economy has deteriorated and Nigeria has continued to be ranked among the least developed nation. So many reasons can be adduced for the slow pace of economic growth. Such reasons include; mono-cultural economy, low industrialization, high import dependency and corruption. Various regimes in the past had come up with one initiative or the other in a bid to turnaround the economic fortunes of this country. Also some bodies or agencies have been established to oversee and solve the problem of poverty and promote economic advancement. In this regard, bodies like the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP), Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP), Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) etc were established.

Past governments have been involved in different development plans all geared towards uplifting the nation’s economy. The government of Gen Sanni Abacha lunched a development plan tagged vision 2010. It was a plan that was drawn to put to achieve certain level of development of Nigerian economy by the year 2010. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo in effort to turnaround the economy, embarked on so many reforms in different sectors of the economy including; education, energy, solid minerals, works, transport etc. He also established the Due Process Office that brought a lot of positive changes in the contract award process and execution.

The present government of Alhaji Yar’adua has come up with its own agenda popularly known as the seven point agenda. Through the seven point agenda his government intends to focus on key sectors of the economy that will speed up economic development of the nation. He has also launched a development plan titled vision 2020.Through this plan he intends to speed up economic development that will put Nigeria among 20 topmost economies by the year 2020. This he has already started pursuing with greatest emphasis on the power sector.

Despite these laudable programmes and plans, the pace of economic development seems to be at a standstill. In fact with the global financial meltdown leading to world economic recession, the economy seems to be deteriorating further. One problem that has been identified as a clog in the wheel of economic advancement is the neglect of small and medium scale enterprises or what some call micro-

entrepreneurs. It has been established in both advanced and emerging economies that the growth of most economies has been anchored on the growth of small and medium scale enterprises Muhammad.Y( 2003)

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