Lagos disburses N25 billion as grants and loans

Through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, the state government has given over N25 billion in grants and loans to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in an effort to boost economic growth and productivity in the region, according to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. 

At a parley on Thursday at the 2024 Business Day Newspaper CEO Forum, held at the Balmoral Hall of the Federal Palace Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos, with the topic "Governors in Conversation-Innovative Governance: Steering States through Economic Turbulence," Sanwo-Olu revealed this. 

The Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, spoke on behalf of the Governor, who said that the grants and loans had enabled company owners to grow and boost the economy.

According to Sanwo-Olu, “The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund over the past six years has given out close to twenty-five billion in terms of grants and assisting people with loans. “In this case, single-digit loans were offered to them to sustain and train them on how to manage their businesses.”

According to Sanwo-Olu, the state government also assisted them in locating products, gaining access to the market, and interacting with various agencies including as NAFDAC, BOI, CAC, and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to help them learn how to operate their enterprises legally.

“It is for us to create those types of environments that allow private people to run their businesses and create jobs for the future,” the governor stated.

Noting that his administration sought to strengthen the Nano SMEs and give access to grants and loans for their enterprises to continue to develop and succeed, he said, saying that all of these activities were what the government did to ensure that businesses within the state rise.

Source