INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Access to electricity and its accompanied high tariffs poses a greater challenge to SMEs growth and performance in lower incomecountries like Nigeria, as compared with those in higher income countries.This assertion is confirmed in a research by Scott et al (2014) which reveals that, the proportion of SMEs in high-incomecountries citing electricity as a major constraint is half of their counterparts in the Sub-Saharan Africanand Asia countries. Cost and time spent on acquiring electricity were also higher in the Less Developed Countriescompared with that of High-Income Countries. However, this study is examining the effect of electricity on the performance of SMEs in Nigeria.
The effect of electricity power outage on SMEs in Nigeria posited that, the current electricitycrises in the country were costing the SMEs over US $686.4 million of annual sales. The SMEs continued to record a huge loss day by day as a result of poor electricity supply. These have been partly blamed on market and state failures, which have led to the poor electricity supply.
In the interim, a lot has equally been said with regards to the appalling state of Nigeria's epileptic power sector according to Akuru and Okoro (2009). Energy consumers do not get electricity supplied to them because the local utility companies do not get power transmitted to them from the electric grid. The managers of electric transmesion are quick to accuse the generating stations of insufficient generating MW capacity. And as if trading of blame has become routine with each of these sectors, the generating stations either claim they do not get enough gas to power their plants or they turn around and claim that the transmesion companies themselves cannot boast of a strong transmesion backbone to transmit what is being generated.
Indeed, modern energy services can impact on the development of SMEs to a great extent. Issues that can affect the development of SMEs such as gross undercapitalization, decrepit infrastructural services, high start-up costs, corruption, and government indifference have been identified by Oboh (2002). A particular finding revealed the high cost of providing back-up energy (partly infrastructural) for SMEs which sometimes is as critical as three times the cost of publicly supplied electricity as discussed elsewhere (Adenikinju, 2003; Essien, 2001).
In Nigeria and perhaps generally, SMEs classification have been done on the basis of capital investment and employed labour force while other criteria could be the annual turnover or gross output as mentioned by Anyanwu (2001). Until very recently, energy was rarely cited as one of the problems militating against the performance of SMEs in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Several policies has been formulated by government at all levels (Federal, States and local government) in Nigeria to enhance growth and development of the SMEs as they contribute significantly to the GDP of the nation. This policies and objectives can only be realized when there is adequate power supply to the small business. Currently in Nigeria, managers of small business spend huge sums in procuring generating sets, fuel and the maintenance of the generators to operate their business successfully. This has however skyrocketed the operational cost and reduced their performance.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The numerical value of Nigeria's GDP as at 2004 (and by all standards, now, because there have been no noticeable improvements) is a consequence of its poor electricity structure and this has affected the performance of SMEs, which is considered as a yardstick for economic independence of nations. However, a number of options that can be used to checkmate this unfortunate development exist. For instance, if the Nigerian government should consider the criticality of SMEs and fast-track programmes on the expansion and optimal operation of the current energy mix; within a very short time frame, these could be measured as an effort towards relief. SMEs villages/clusters can be built to promote industrial activities on the basis that such basic infrastructure like electricity, which is needed for spin-off as well as for sustainable operation, is collectively and affordably provided by the relevant host authorities to investors and operators. Standalone renewable energy (RE) systems are increasingly getting better than generating sets which still requires expensive and pollution-prone fossil fuels for their operation. Hence, efforts are needed by relevant authorities, tasked with the promotion of SMEs in Nigeria, to facilitate the provision and subsidized costs of procuring these renewable energy systems - some of which are readily available for small-scale use.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO: There is no significant relationship between electricity and performance of SMEs in Nigeria.
HA: There is significant relationship between electricity and performance of SMEs in Nigeria.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study will cover the effect of electricity on the performance of SMEs in Nigeria. It will also cover the effectiveness of the electricity generating and distributing companies in Nigeria.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work
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