Revitalizing Infrastructure for Rural Growth and Sustainable Development | Ogungbemi | Industrial Engineering Letters

The development of extensive and effective programs and
processes for rural growth and sustainable development has been viewed
as a factor for economic development. This is said to be enhanced
through the provision and availability of technical and critical
infrastructures on which the Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises
(SMMEs) thrived positively.  The SMMEs represents agents of economic
transformation to the society on wealth and employment creation, thus
representing well over 90% of all manufacturing enterprises in the
world. However, it is also a common occurrence that every year many of
these small firms are forced to close their doors. Most of the SMMES do
prefer the urban centres due to the availability of some critical
infrastructure and there exist dearth of technical and critical
infrastructures for Manufacturing and technology development in the
rural areas.  This paper provides an insight towards the sustainability
of SMMEs activities in Nigeria especially in the areas of manufacturing
development and Rural growth, owing to the vast natural raw materials
available, with the discussion anchoring around local manufacturers
which has not been really encouraged in meeting the desired aims of
trade and investment liberation, a major source of export via the
concept of the provision, sustenance and maintenance of critical and
technical infrastructures as part of the strategy.

Keywords: Infrastructure, rural development, sustainable development, SMEs, maintenance management, Nigeria