This study evaluates the effects of importation on the growth of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria for the period between 1992 and 2017. The study employs the unit root test approach of Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) to examine the order of integration of the variables and the co-integration test was carried out using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds test to check whether a long-run relationship exists among the variables of this study. The co-integration test result shows that a long-run relationship exists among the variables indicating that they all converge in the long-run. The empirical results show a significant direct relationship between SME growth and imports in Nigeria both in the short-run and long-run. Further, the results revealed that lending rate and commercial banks’ credits to SMEs are inversely related to SME growth while exchange rate has a positive impact on SME growth in Nigeria. This study therefore recommends that the Nigerian government should diversify the Nigerian economy and local sourcing of raw materials should be encouraged to enhance backward and forward linkage of the various sectors of the Nigerian economy. The lending rate should also be lowered as much as possible so as to encourage SME investors. It also recommends that the Nigerian government make concerted efforts geared towards encouraging local producers and infant industries to produce the raw materials and capital equipment that SMEs would have otherwise imported from other countries.