PROPOSAL ON THE ROLE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCTION IN NIGERIA

bstract

This study examined the role of small and medium scale enterprises in the reduction of unemployment in Nigeria. The problems hindering the small scale enterprises from achieving their full potentials as the agents of growth and development were highlighted. One essential function of small scale enterprises is that they provide employment to large number of Nigerians residing in both the rural areas and the urban centers thereby helping to solve the nagging problem of unemployment in the country. When unemployed people are given gainful employment, it reduced the spate of social ills, such as, robbery, prostitution, advance fee fraud (419) and kidnapping in the society. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study.

 INTRODUCTION

A small scale enterprise is a business that is not large, in terms of its size, scope of operation, financial involvement and the workforce involved. Most small scale enterprises are owned by one entrepreneur. Sometimes a small scale enterprise is said to be a firm that is independently owned and operated and which is not dominant in its field of operation. In general, we should recognize that a small scale business must have few employees, limited capital investment and small scale operation (Nicholas, 2017). The experience of developed economies in relation to the roles played by small scale industries buttresses the fact that the importance of entrepreneurship cannot be over emphasized especially among the developing countries. In order to highlight its significance in relation to the growth and development of a given economy, small scale industries have been variously referred to as a “source of employment generation”. This is because small scale industrial activities have been found to be capable of making positive impacts on the economy of a nation and the quality of life of the people (Adejumo 2000). Studies have established its positive relationship with stimulation of economic growth; employment generation; and empowerment of the disadvantaged segments of the population, which include women and the poor (Olurermi and Gbenga, 2016; Thomas and Muller,2017). Nigeria as a country has numerous business and investment potentials due to the abundant, vibrant and dynamic human and natural resources it possesses. Tapping these resources requires the ability to identify potentially useful and economically viable fields of endeavors. Nigerians have made their marks in diverse fields such as science, technology, academics, business and entertainment. Thus, small scale industries activities and innovative ingenuity in Nigeria have developed enterprises in the following areas, agricultural/agro-allied activities where there are foodstuffs, restaurants, fast food vending etc. in the area of information and telecom business, there are manufacturing and repairs of GSM accessories and the printing and setting of recharge cards. In hospitality and tourism business, there are hotels, accommodation, resorts centers, films and home video production; in oil and gas business, there are construction and maintenance of pipelines, drilling, refining bye products. In the area of environment and waste management business, there is refuse collection/disposal, recycle plant and drainage/sewage construction job. In the area of financial banking services, there are banking, insurance and stock trading. In engineering and fabrication work, there are machines and tools fabrications there is also the building and construction, where there are plan and design services and material sourcing (Agbeze, 2014)  These human and natural resources notwithstanding, Nigeria are still one of the poorest countries in the world and Africa despite its alleged strong economic growth. Chukwubuikem (2018) notes that youth’s full-time unemployment rate for 2016-2018 was 69.9 percent, 4 times higher (Salami, 2016). Many other industrial sub-sectors to such a vibrant one that they have been able to reduce to the barest minimum their unemployment and poverty level because of the immense contribution of the sub-sector to their economic growth and development but such cannot be said of Nigeria (Onugu, 2015). A midst all the challenges bedeviling SMEs in Nigeria, SMEs still remain the highest employer of labor in Nigeria. In the course of exploring the potency of SMEs on employment generation the researcher picked Concept Nova a subsidiary of Concept Group as the case study.

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