SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION IN BORNO STATE: A STUDY OF SELECTED SMES IN MAIDUGURI METROPOLIS

Hudson Iliya U.¹, Andrew Salau B.² and Ibrahim Abdulaziz I.³

¹University of Maiduguri Division of General Studies

²University of Maiduguri, Mathematics & Statistics

³University of Maiduguri, Computer Center

E-mail: researchatdemidala@gmail.com, usmanailiya@ymail.com

Abstract: Economic growth of a country is measured by the rate of increase in a country’s GDP. While the GDP is a key measure by which policy makers estimate how well the economy is doing, it provides little information on how families and individuals are doing in the country. Lack of employment opportunities and the consequential income disparity bring about mass poverty in most of the developing and under developed countries. Nigeria’s unemployment level is a major concern to all stakeholders in the country as the unemployment rate rises. Official figures from the NBS in 2012, puts the national figure at about twenty-three point nine percent (23.9%), while that of Borno State is twenty-nine point one percent (29.1%). This study provides empirical findings on small and medium scale enterprises and employment generation in Borno State, Nigeria. The study uses a 32 item questionnaire in generating its data, which was subjected to different statistics, these are; Univeriate analysis, Measure of Central Tendency, Pearson Product Moment Correlation in order to answer questions raise as research question. The findings of the study clearly shows that small scale industries do consistently contribute to employment generation in Borno state, it also found out that there is a significant difference between ratings of the employment quality provided by the SMEs in Borno state, which implies that the quality of employment provided by the SMEs are of low quality, that most of the employees of Small and Medium Enterprises in Borno State are young men with low/intermediate educational qualifications, it further shows that there is no relationship between Enterprise characteristics and quality of employment generated by SMEs in Borno State Since all the variables have shown no significant level which is less than P<0.05, there is a relationship between Enterprise characteristics and quantity of employment generated by SMEs in Borno State, there is a relationship between Enterprise characteristics and quantity of employment generated by SMEs in Borno State. The study recommends that, there is need for SMEs, civil Society, organizations, non -governmental Organizations to collaborate with the State Government in other to provide qualitative employment that can sustained the development of this nation. That government should provided scholarships for youths that are willing to further their education, Schools both tertiary and Secondary school should include entrepreneur as a subject course in their curriculum.