AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PROBLEMS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Generally speaking, small and medium-sized businesses (also known as SMEs) are considered to be the main power of every nation's economic progress, and they are also recognized as justified methods that promote development internationally. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) need a significant amount of human labor despite their low capital requirements. They have the potential to empower individuals to become self-sufficient and create billions of new jobs around the world (Adebuiyi, 2022). They are also seen as the primary agents behind economic expansion and a decrease in levels of poverty (Adebuiyi, 2022). Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are important components that connect, reinforce, and increase the growth of nations. Their success and expansion in manufacturing, agriculture, and other service-oriented industries, amongst others, have been recognized to be the drivers of the Nigerian economy and have contributed to it. Competitiveness is created when there is both sustainable development and a rise in the performance of SMEs. This competitiveness then opens a plethora of doors for job possibilities, as well as physical and intangible assets (investment) in the environment (Ajakaiye, 2022). The year 1960 was a watershed moment in the history of Nigeria, marking a turning point in the growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a result, a significant amount of emphasis has been placed on SMEs as a panacea for the reduction of poverty and joblessness or unemployment in Nigeria as a whole. The adoption of the Economic Reform Program (ERP) in 1986 signaled a pivotal shift away from impressive, capital-intensive, and large-scale industrial projects based on import substitution and toward small-scale industries with enormous potentials for the development of domestic linkages for sustainable economic and industrial development. This shift indicated a pivotal shift away from impressive, capital-intensive, and large-scale industrial projects based on import substitution (Alonge, 2019). As a result, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) play a very significant role in the Nigerian economy (Ani , 2019). Despite the difficulties that exist in the country, small and medium-sized enterprises in Nigeria have grown throughout the years.

In a paper titled "Nigeria's Economy and its Career Promise for the Mature Employee," a financial expert named Dr. Ade Oyedijo asserted that the plights of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria have to do with key variables and challenges that characterize the economy of the nation. He said this in an interview. These include, but are not limited to, a very high unemployment rate, which is likely to rise as a consequence of the present ongoing changes in the public sector, a high degree of poverty, sickness, and hunger, among other problems. Dr. Oyedijo also mentioned a drastic shift from the production of non-oil traded goods (mostly agricultural) to traded goods as one of the characteristics of our nation's economy that aggravate the problems faced by Nigerian SMEs. This shift occurred at the same time that it was reported that approximately 95 million Nigerians were living below the poverty line. At the same time, 19 of Nigeria's citizens were ranked among the 500 wealthiest men in a modern capitalist economy. In addition to this, he was of the opinion that since the country's independence, the primary focus of Nigeria's development strategies and goals has been the development of industrialization, education, and a self-reliant economy. However, he lamented the fact that the human capital that is expected to support the process of industrialization and propel other sectors to maturity has not exhibited the right mix of knowledge, attitude, and skills required to accomplish this objective (Anyanwu, 2020).

In spite of the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been regarded as the cornerstone for the creation of new jobs and the advancement of technology in Nigeria, the sector has nevertheless experienced its fair share of neglect, which has had concomitant unfavorable effects on the economy. The General Manager of Enterprise and Financial Support Company Limited, Mr. Oluseyi Oluboba, presented a paper at a seminar titled "Career Crisis and Financial Distress- The Way Out." In his paper, he identified the following as the primary problems of SMEs, which are however not insurmountable: a low level of entrepreneurial skills, poor management practices, constrained access to money and capital markets, and low equity participation from the promoters as a result of insufficient personal savings due to (Ayodele,2021). It is fascinating to learn that certain small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are able to triumph over the obstacles and difficulties they face, despite the fact that they are unquestionably considerable. This should offer a foundation for optimism and hope that there is a way out of this predicament, since it brings hope. There must be some survival techniques that the advocates of SMEs are not aware of, but there are probably not many. This study also aims to investigate and uncover some of the most important company survival techniques that have been successful for a select number of profitable SME businesses. Other small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) who are in danger of going out of business might learn from them, along with newly established businesses and businesses that are still in the planning stages. This could have enormous advantages.

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