International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Development-– Volume 2 Issue 1, Jan-Feb 2019 Available at www.ijsred.com ISSN : 2581-7175 ©IJSRED: All Rights are Reserved Page 198 Challenges of business clustering in Nigeria: A Study of Building Materials Businesses in AkwaIbom State of Nigeria Ime Robson Nseobot Department of Business Administration AkwaIbom State Polytechnic, IkotOsurua, IkotEkpene, AkwaIbom State, Nigeria. ---------------------------------------***************************----------------------------------- Abstract The study examined the effect of challenges of business clustering in Nigeria: A Study of building material businesses in AkwaIbom State. The population of the study comprises of 12,104registered building materials businesses in AkwaIbom State as at December, 2018 from Uyo branch of Corporate Affairs Commission. Out of this population, the researcher arbitrarily adopts 253 respondentsas the sample size for the study. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. The instrument was validated by two experts in evaluation and Test. Data from 253 completed questionnaire forms were subjected to PPMC analysis. The findings of the study showed that poor infrastructural facilities like roads, electricity and water supply, street signage, refuse removal, etc has a proportional relationship with business cluster in Nigeria. The study recommended that to strengthen the momentum of business cluttering further, the task of infrastructural provision is too important and enormous to be left in the hand of government alone, hence the need for private sector to key in the provision of the infrastructure in the cluster region to complement government effort. To succeed as a nation in improving infrastructural provision, there must be sincerity of purpose on the part of the parties involved in the contracts. The rule of law and the sanctity of the contracts must be maintained. The private partners should be able to play innovative role in the design, construction and ensure timely completion of the projects Keywords —Business Cluster, Infrastructural Facilities, Development, Economy, ---------------------------------------***************************----------------------------------- Introduction Since the 1990s, industrial clusters have been considered as a development concept and even emerged as a development pole [1]. Clusters reflect a cooperated and coincided firms’ effort within a value chain of a product to increase productivity and competitiveness. Clusters lead to lower production costs, particularly in terms of transaction costs. The borders of clusters are not well defined. It could either be an industrial location (industrial estate) or a region. The actors related to a given cluster define the borders in accordance with the distance and time they aim to diminish or overcome. Distance counts in decisions of actors due to its importance in enhancing adequate knowledge and information exchange and cooperation between them. A cluster is a geographically proximate group of interconnected companies and associated institutions in a particular field, linked by commonalities and complementarities. Clusters take varying RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS