Abstract: It is an established fact that small businesses are adjudged critical to the development of any nation’s economy. They remain excellent sources of wealth creation, poverty reduction and development of indigenous entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, small scale businessesin Nigeria, particularly in Makurdi metropolis have high rate of collapse. In recognition of the increasing failure of small businesses in Nigeria, the study sets to examine the influence of succession planning on survival of Small Scale Businesses in Makurdi metropolis. Descriptive survey design was adopted in the study with a sample size of 120 persons drawn from the population of 560 small business owners. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation and hypothesis was tested using Analysis of Variance. The study revealed that manpower training influences longevity of small scale businesses and there was no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female entrepreneurs on influence of manpower training on the longevity of small scale businesses in Makurdi metropolis. The implication is that business owners should have a succession plan in place to ensure continuity and sustainability. On the strength of the above, it was recommended among others that owners of companies should propose successors for their business in good time so as to allow enough time for training that could see their business survive through several generations.