Abstract:
The Nigeria’s Public Sector has ballooned, in part since independent in 1960, on the back of the oil-boom years of the 1970s. the country had more 2000 public enterprises by early 1990s and there were concerns about inefficiencies and have negative effect on the aggregate economy, consequently, most of them have either been privatized or commercialize. Ostensibly, global economic literatures and parameters reveal that small-scale industry is the bedrock of economic development. It is one of the secrets or catalyst behind the Asian tiger’s dramatic economic growth over the years. The various Nigeria governments have also adopted or pursued one policy or the other intended to foster grassroot development, and improve the standard of living of our rural dwellers. All these policies and programmes have failed to impact significantly on those areas. The researcher affirming the global view on small-scale industries, decided to investigate the contributions of small-scale industry to Nigerian rural areas, having Arochukwu and Ohafia Local Government Areas as the hear-beat of the Study. The researcher adopted the use of questionnaire and oral interviews as statistical instrument for the study. During the study, 500 questionnaires were randomly distributed to 500 respondents in 41 villages of the local government areas. The data collected were presented and analyzed using Chi-square at 95 percent confidence level (ie x = 0.05). The study reveal that small-scale industry is the engine of rural economic development. The industry creates job opportunities and also provides basic infrastructures and social amenities. Small-scale industry motivates other economic activities that guarantee qualitative standard of living. Nevertheless, the researcher concluded that small-scale industry is the catalyst to Rural Economic Emancipation, state and local government should encourage the establishment of such industry in the rural areas of their objectives of grass root development will be achieved.
