Abstract

With a population of close to 150 million and various government policies aimed at increasing the level of employment and eradicating poverty hitting the rocks over the years, Nigeria, a country which boasts of the second largest economy on the African continent after South Africa, may not meet the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty by 2015. This is because a key sector of the economy – Manufacturing - is seriously being threatened with extinction. This fact is corroborated by data obtained from the umbrella body of manufacturers in Nigeria - The Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN).The study which is in two parts, employs primary as well as secondary data. The first part utilized 2009 and 2010 statistics of key parameters in evaluating the chances of survival of manufacturing operations in Nigeria in the next four years up to 2015 which marks the end of the timeframe set for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted by MAN revealed that only about 10% of industries run by its members are fully operational. The implication of this disclosure is that 90% of the industries have closed down leading to loss of about 5.2 million jobs in the year 2010.With this background, the authors opined, given the stringent and unfavorable operating conditions in the country, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector may not survive for too long. A possible leeway out of the difficult situation forms the foundation for the second part of the study i.e. the need to empower the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. Although the government established the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN ), a body tasked with developing the SME sector to a level comparable to that of advanced nations, the impact of this agency does not seem to be felt in much of the country in terms of employment generation and poverty reduction. With the near collapse of the nation’s manufacturing sector, the only rescue seems to be the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. Compared to previous research, this study breaks new ground by evaluating the performance of cooperative-financed small businesses against such parameters as level of infrastructure support by SMEDAN, linkage with sources of non-bank finance, training support as well as capacity building and promotional services – all within the Ikenne Local Government area of Ogun State in South-Western Nigeria. The second part of the study employed a survey research involving officers of cooperative societies in five towns within the Local Government. The officers, whose main task is to oversee loan funds given to members to run various small businesses, are to evaluate the services of SMEDAN against the parameters earlier mentioned. The results of the survey revealed that SMEDAN’s activities in such key areas did not enhance the effectiveness of small businesses within the survey period. The overall lesson from these findings is that with the near-collapse of the nation’s manufacturing sector, the main thrust of Nigeria’s quest to regional leadership and poverty eradication must be hinged on entrepreneurship development especially an aggressive promotion of micro, small and medium scale enterprises. This is crucial to achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty in Nigeria.