Infrastructural Deficit and Small-Scale Business Performance in South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

Inadequate or infrastructure deficit have been identified as one of the factors working against the performance of small businesses in Nigeria. The performance of small businesses experienced set back in the sector as a result of decay, inadequate infrastructural facilities or deplorable conditions of the available once and it has posed formidable obstacles to the performance of small businesses. This study investigated the relationship between infrastructural deficit and small-scale business performance in South-South Nigeria. The study adopted a survey design, the study population is 806, and sample size of 267. Simple random, and stratified sampling techniques were employed to select the respondents. And inferential statistics were employed, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation technique was used at 0.01 level of significance with the aid of SPSS. Our findings revealed that there is a negative, strong and significant relationship between dimension of infrastructural deficit and small-scale business performance in South-South Nigeria. The study specifically revealed that infrastructural deficit correlate negatively and significantly with Small Scale Business performance in South-South Nigeria. The study arrives at the fact that infrastructural deficit has a negative impact on the performance of small-scale business in south-south Nigeria. The researcher recommendations were as follows. There is an urgent need for an upgrade in road network to reduce the problem of transportation in South-South Nigeria so that the gain of small businesses to the nation and the society will be achieved. There should be regular supply of electricity to the people so that the small businesses operating within the area will not need to generate their own power supply which in return will reduce the profit of the business and the final consumer will also pay more. The communication industry operating in the South-South Nigeria should endeavor to make sure that they provide adequate service so that communication will be smooth and effective for the conduct of business among the people.