ABSTRACT

Finance is crucial to any investment decision. This study however is aimed at finding out the role of Commercial Banks in financing small scale business in Nigeria. This study is divided into five chapters, from chapter one which is the introduction, to the last chapter (five) which includes the literature review, research methodology, data presentation, analysis and interpretation, finally the summary, conclusion and recommendations. The study made use of CBN statistical bulletin data from 1992- 2011. Secondary data for macro - economic variables were collected and analyzed on OLS regression model using performance of small scale enterprise (PSSE) as the dependent variable, then commercial bank credit to small scale enterprise (CBCSSE) and commercial bank lending interest rate (CBLIR) as independent variables in the first model. And CBCSSE as dependent variable, then commercial bank total loan (CBTL) and commercial bank credit to private sector (CBCPS) as independent variables. The study found out that bank credit has not impacted significantly on the PSSE level and growth of SSB's. Bank did not lend to SSBs as supposed. And the commercial bank credit to private sector has not impacted significant to the SSE even though there is a significant relationship between them. So the financial institutions and federal government should give more priority to the (SSEs} sector.