EFFECT OF SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES ON NIGERIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

It is an undisputable fact that Nigeria of the pre-independence era was predominately small scale in its productions and marketing activities. Industrial revolution brought about a shift from the orthodox trade by barter to a more sophisticated marketing system where consumers satisfaction becomes the ultimate goal of the most businesses. Thus small scale business becomes the next option since they stood a better chance of offering a more  personal relationship with customers as well as socio economic satisfactions of societal needs.

Unfortunately the   over concentration on t he oil sector which Nigeria  hoped will boost economic growth led to the negligence of the small scale industries until economic depression set in during  the oil boom period. This and other factors led to the   quest for private participation in the various economic sectors through the Small Scale Industries especially in the present civilian government where the Industrial Development Centres (IDCS )  have  embarked upon a loan scheme  for small business to enhance their contribution to national economic development. The question now is, will small scale contributes to  nation's economic  development? One might wonder if this will be  realistic, but  it is quite obvious that Nigeria as a  country developing very slow due to economic dependency of the country. It therefore becomes apparent that the way out of the problem lies within Nigeria. What are found in Nigeria are basically the large scale operations which have given the most contributions to the economy of the developed nations across the globe. One would therefore questioned the backwardness of small scale business to government negligence of the small industries. Nevertheless the immense contributions of small scale industries in terms of increased industrial  output job creation, improvement of standard of livening and general economic development  has reawakened  government interest  and support on these small scale industries.

1.1     HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY

It is against this background that the next generation computers  was  established  on the 15th February 2000 to boost the computer industry without which Nigeria economy development cannot be fully achieved. The firm which started with capital base of one Hundred Thousand Naira  (N100,000) with the owners as the manager and no  organizational structure deals with booth computer  hardware and software.

The services rendered by the organization include Typing, photocopying, internet services, computer assembling supply and installation of computers maintenance and training of manpower through apprenticeship. The firm has so far been able to meet the needs of business organization's and individuals within Kaduna North.