EFFECTS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study focused on small and medium enterprises effects on the economic growth in Nigeria. SMEs are speculated to be the spine of every society and the economy as a whole but, it is opposite situation for a nation as big as Nigeria, rich in natural resources and with more than 190 million people which, owing to the lack of significant funding for SMEs from the government and other financial institutions, is languishing in poverty and a collapsed economy. A lot of surveys, research agencies and some scholars have concluded that small and medium make contributions appreciably to economic growth, to productivity, to competitiveness, to employment, to decentralization and to social coherence. The data produced was both informative and inferential in subjective terms. It makes used of secondary data gotten from the CBN statistical bulletin (2010-2019). However, it take into account the implementation of OLS, the time and series characteristics of the variables. The quantitative data analysis approach will be used to interpret the data from these studies. Regression analysis was used to classify the connection between variables. The results reveal that for a nation to achieve a sustainable and meaningful meaningful and sustainable growth, irrespective of its seconomic philosophy, sufficient attention must be paid to the wide spread of economic activities through entrepreneurship and the generation of small and medium enterprises. The study recommends that more government action should be taken to promote access to concessional funds for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and also make the interest rates affordable and assessable to SMEs across Nigeria.