IIARD International Journal of Economics and Business Management E-ISSN 2489-0065 P-ISSN 2695-186X Vol 10. No. 5 2024 www.iiardjournals.org IIARD – International Institute of Academic Research and Development Page 50 The Issues, Challenges and Prospects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Bauchi Metropolis Abubakar Ahmad Yusuf, Abdulkadir Suleiman, Alhaji Kawugana Federal Polytechnic Bauchi P.M.B.0231 Bauchi, Bauchi State Nigeria alhajikawugana@gmail.com, alhajiganak@fptb.edu.ng DOI 10.56201/ijebm.v10.no5.2024.pg50.59 Abstract The Study examine the Issues, Challenges and Prospects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria. The objective of the study is to determining factors influencing small and medium enterprises in Bauchi Metropolis. This was informed by the high rate of unemployment in the society and the poor performance of SMEs in employment generation. While the research will also addressed the extent to which poor financing, inadequate social infrastructures, lack of managerial skills and multiple taxation constitute major challenges in the performance of SMEs, it assumes that government intervention through the provision of financial assistance, social infrastructures and favorable taxation policies will reverse the trend. The research adopted a descriptive research design using 30 randomly selected registered operators of SMEs in Bauchi Metropolis. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics while formulated hypotheses were tested using z-test. The major findings from the Results of the data analysis indicated that poor financing, inadequate social infrastructures, lack of managerial skills and multiple taxation were major challenges confronting SMEs in Bauchi metropolis. Based on the findings from results of the data analyzed it was recommended that provision of soft loans to SMEs operators, government guaranteeing of long-term loans to SMEs operators, establishment of SMEs funding agency, public/private sector partnership in infrastructural provision, capacity building for SMEs operators and provision of tax incentives for SMEs operators., Nigeria. Keywords: SMEs, SMEDAN, Poor Financing, Managerial Skills, Unemployment, Social Infrastructure Introduction After Nigeria’s independence in 1960, much emphasis has been laid on the growth of small and medium scale industries as a means of reducing the incidence of poverty and unemployment in the country. Since the adoption of the economic reform programmer in 1986, there has been a decisive shift from grandiose, capital intensive and large scale industrial projects based on import substitution to small scale industries with immense potentials for developing domestic linkages for sustainable industrial development. Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are generally regarded as the engine economic growth and equitable development in developing economies. They are labour intensive, capital