Infrastructure Provision and Perceived SME Productivity: An Exploratory Multi-Case Assessment in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate within an infrastructural environment that fundamentally determines production continuity, operational expenditure, logistical access, and overall enterprise viability. In Nigeria, contemporary institutional diagnostics identify persistent electricity outages, inadequate water reticulation, and poor transportation networks as critical bottlenecks constraining private enterprise performance. Grounded conceptually in Hirschman ’s Unbalanced Growth Theory, this study examined the empirical relationship between selected economic infrastructure dimensions, effective power supply, adequate water supply, and road accessibility and perceived SME productivity within Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was deployed across five purposively selected enterprises spanning agro-processing, light manufacturing, retail, and commercial hospitality (Heritage Pure Water, C. Plastic, Abulenla Furniture, Matrite Supermarket, and T&K Restaurant). Primary data were harvested via a structured five- point Likert questionnaire administered to a proportionately allocated sample of 116 employees (with a completed diagnostic sub-sample of 48 cases subjected to full metric validation). The survey instrument demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach ’s alpha = 0.809). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the infrastructure dimensions jointly exert a statistically significant relationship with perceived SME productivity (F(3, 44) = 9.924, p < 0.001; R = 0.635, R² = 0.404). Evaluated individually, effective power supply (β = 0.302, t = 2.085, p = 0.043) and adequate water supply (β = 0.155, t = 2.414, p = 0.020) demonstrated positive and statistically significant associations with productivity. In contrast, road accessibility exhibited an inverse relationship (β = _0.053, t = _2.589, p = 0.013). Diagnostic appraisals confirmed an absence of multicollinearity (VIF values: 1 .011–1 .054) and negligible residual autocorrelation (Durbin– Watson = 1 .826). Given the enterprise clustering and cross-sectional design, these findings provide exploratory firm-level evidence rather than causal population estimates, underscoring the urgent necessity of decentralised mini-grid electrification, industrial water schemes, and focused arterial road rehabilitation to foster SME growth in Kwara State.