Assessment of Microfinance Banks and the Growth of SMEs in Jos South Plateau state, Nigeria

— The study seeks to examine the assessment of microfinance banks and the growth of Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Jos South, Plateau State, Nigeria. The study covered small and medium scale farmer entrepreneurs within Jos South. A sample size of 150 was obtained from the population of 201 at 5% error tolerance and 95% level of confidence, using Simple Random Sampling. 140(93.3%) of the questionnaire distributed were returned while 10(7.1%) of the questionnaire distributed were not returned. selfstructured questionnaire was used to collect data. The study conducted a pre-test on the questionnaire to ensure the validity of the instrument. Data collected were presented in frequency tables. To measure the effect of microfinance bank on the growth of SMEs, descriptive statistics and Pearson's Chi-Square model were used. The Chi-Square value is shown as X2 calculated 29.376 > X2 tabulated 14.201. The study therefore revealed that Microfinance bank activities has made significant contribution to the growth of SMEs in Nigeria. The study recommends among other things, that government form a powerful team made up of all relevant parties to ensure that microfinance banks stay focused on their primary goal of providing ongoing funding for SMEs and that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) be more proactive in addressing any areas where microfinance banks violate the law.