Nigerian Socio-Economic Development: The Roles and Challenges of Small and Medium Entreprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) A Descriptive Perspective

In recent time, no other sector has been given so much attention in Nigeria’s development plans as the small and medium industrial sector. There has been a conscious decision to de-emphasis the capital intensive, large scale industrial projects by the three tiers of government in Nigeria and put more emphasis on small scale enterprises. Small scale enterprises have been observed over the years to have immense potentials for socio-economic development of a nation. The objectives of the paper is to establish the immense potentials of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria, to identify the challenges being faced by SMEs in Nigeria and the roles of Small and medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in addressing these challenges. This reviewed work revealed that SMEDAN is faced with a lot of challenges ranging from inadequate fund, tribalism, nepotism, lack of enlightenment/campaign amongst others. From reviewed of literature, it was found out that SMEDAN has not carried out its roles to a large extent to help alleviate the challenges faced by small and medium enterprises in Nigerians. It is recommended that there should be more awareness about the existence of the agency and it roles, there should be checks and balances to curb corruption etc. These will help the agency to carry out its roles efficiently and effectively so that the small and medium enterprises will have greater impact on the socio-economic development of Nigeria