CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

A.     STATEMENT OF GENERAL PROBLEM

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria have not performed creditably well and hence have not played the expected vital and vibrant role in the economic growth and development of Nigeria. This situation has been of great concern to the government, citizenry, operators, practitioners and the organised private sector groups. Year in year out, the governments at federal, state and even local levels through budgetary allocations, policies and

pronouncements have signified interest and acknowledgement of the crucial role of the SME sub-sector of the economy and hence made policies for energizing the same. There have also been fiscal incentives, grants, bilateral and multilateral agencies support and aids as well as specialized institutions all geared towards making the SME sub-sector vibrant.

Just as it has been a great concern to all and sundry to promote the welfare of SMEs, it has also been a great cause of concern to all, the fact that the vital sub-sector has fallen short of expectation. The situation is more disturbing and worrying when compared with what other developing and developed countries have been able to achieve with their SMEs. It has been shown that there is a high correlation between the degree of poverty hunger, unemployment, economic well being (standard of living) of the citizens of countries and the degree of vibrancy of the respective country’s SMEs. If Nigeria were to achieve an appreciable success towards attaining the Millennium Declaration Goals for 2015, one of the sure ways would be to vigorously pursue the development of its SMEs. Some of the key Millennium Declaration Goals like halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger, without access to safe water, reducing maternal and infant mortality by three-quarts and two thirds respectively and enrolment of all children in primary school by 2015 may indeed be a mirage unless there is a turnaround of our SMEs’ fortunes sooner than later. The time is now to do something surgical to the situation of our SMEs given the aggravating level of poverty in Nigeria and the need to meet up with the Millennium Declaration Goals.

The decreasing level of Nigeria’s per capita income, which declined from $870 in 1981 to $260 in 1998, and $205 in2004 as well as a low level of agricultural, industrial and infrastructural development (irrigation, road and railway networks) all represent disturbing indices, which also contribute to the dismal performance and contribution of our SMEs.

Dr. Ade Oyedijo, a financial expert in a paper titled "Nigeria’s Economy and its Career Promise for the Mature Employee” affirmed that the plights of SMEs in Nigeria have to do with key variables and challenges that characterise the nation’s economy. These include but are not limited to a very high unemployment rate, which is expected to increase as a result of the current ongoing public sector reforms, high unemployment rate, high poverty level, disease, hunger, etc. Dr. Oyedijo also mentioned a drastic shift from the production of non-oil traded goods (mostly agricultural) to traded goods while about 95 million Nigerians are reported to be living below the poverty line even as 19 of her citizens are ranked among the 500 wealthiest men in modern capitalist economy as among the characteristics of our nation’s economy which aggravate the problems of Nigerian SMEs. He also opined that since independence, the main thrust of Nigeria’s development strategies and objectives have been the development of industrialization, education and a self- reliant economy but regretted that the human capital which is expected to support the industrialisation process and propel other sectors to maturity has not exhibited the right mix of knowledge, attitude and skills required to achieve this purpose.

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