THE EFFECT OF POWER SUPPLY ON SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISE IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF UYO METROPOLIS)

THE EFFECT OF POWER SUPPLY ON SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISE IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF UYO METROPOLIS)

CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

The world has seen significant progress in bringing electricity, central to this has been the role of governments, especially from developed nations, where efforts have been put to help bring electricity and improve living standards of people living in both urban locales. The United States, for example, rolled out electrification programmes as early as 1930s as a way of improving growth rates of its suburbs and helping to create a more integrated national market (Malone & College, 2010). Similarly, it has and continues to be the intention of other governments around the world to increase the use of electricity in rural and peri-urban areas.

Governments have supported the development of rural electrification programmes on their own or through partnership with private electricity utility firms as a way of providing energy to urban and  rural areas. Despite the pivotal role that energy, particularly electricity plays in national economic development and providing services that in turn enhance social development, developing countries have not achieved much when compared to developed nations that flagged off rural electrification programmes in early years.

The cost and difficulty of providing electricity to urban areas in developing countries has left an estimated 1.6 billion people worldwide without the benefits of electricity (Barnes, 2012). Despite the substantial progress made towards the realization of sustainable development in the last decade, availability, accessibility and affordability of electricity for all people is still a major challenge around the world. Rural and urban electrification has been recognized as a key ingredient in poverty reduction and the enhancement of social and economic development. In Insufficient attention to rural and urban electrification in the Nigeria by the government has contributed to the widening gap in electricity access between the rural population and urban population (Abdullah and Markandya, 2012).

THE EFFECT OF POWER SUPPLY ON SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISE IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF UYO METROPOLIS)