Local, foreign donors to grow Lagos’ ETF with N25bn

Board of the N25 billion Lagos Employment Trust Fund (ETF) will be seeking to inflate the fund by additional N25 billion expectedly from local and international donors, to double it to N50 billion, Akintunde Oyebode, executive secretary of the board, says.

The state government is setting aside N6.25 billion annually for the next four years, totalling N25 billion to keep the ETF liquid.

About 100,000 upstart enterprises and individual entrepreneurs with workable business ideas would be expected to draw from the fund by the end of 2019, even as its board awaits the state legislature to give legal backing to what would constitute the operational guidelines and criteria to access the single-digit loan.

Although the ETF was set up in 2015 and its board inaugurated March 2016 by Governor Akinwunmi Ambiode, but the Fund is yet to disburse loan eagerly waiting Lagosians.

Oyebode told journalists on Monday that they spent months perfecting strategies and addressing grey areas ahead of the commencement of fund disbursement later this year.

“After the completion of the research exercise, the board working with its appointed consultants developed a strategic framework articulating the goals of the board, the key interventions designed to enhance job creation, and the supporting infrastructure needed to deliver the set goals. This exercise has now been concluded and approved by the Lagos State executive council,” Oyebode said.

He said the fund would be available as loans to small businesses at single-digit interest while training and capacity building and technical support would also be provided to drive growth and job creation.

“The businesses we support must demonstrate capacity to repay our loans; be owned by Lagos residents duly registered by the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA); show evidence of tax payments to the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS); and have valid Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs). In addition to our MSME financing schemes, we will also train unemployed residents to either take up identified jobs or run their businesses,” he said.

In adherence with Section 6 of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law of 2016, the board has forwarded the operating guidelines outlining the proposed interventions and eligibility criteria for approval by the Lagos State House of Assembly, he said.

Sola Giwa, chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Wealth Creation and Employment, said the state legislators would give the operational guidelines of the fund, which had been forwarded to them, expeditious passage.