Creating Employment via Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: The Case of Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is abundantly blessed with all manners of resources but the problem has always been that of mismanagement of these resources. Consequently, the country is facing lots of socio-economic and political problems among which is unemployment. Given the absence of an enabling environment for large scale industrialization, the only way out is by creating employment through Small andMedium Scale enterprises. as in the case of other developing nations. Overall, the Small and Medium Enterprises have been found to be a veritable source of employment generation. However, the accompanying increase in productivity is not commensurate with the level of employment generated. This paper discussed among others the concept of SMEs, a comparative study of SMEs in other countriesAnd the problems and prospects of SMEs in Nigeria. The paper concluded by  Proffering ‘solutions to SMEs’ problems through appropriate recommendations. It is hoped that with present administration’s quest to improve the economy by rigorously pursuing its eight-point-agenda to logical conclusions, the micro finance institutions all over the country are made to grant loan capital to small scale entrepreneurs without stringent conditions, more ventures would open up while poverty and the unemployment level will reduce considerably.