Lagos provides N100m loan to trainees

The Lagos State Government says it will be providing a
soft loan of N100m to trainees in the state’s special
programmes.
Governor Babatunde Fashola, said this on Saturday
during the fifth edition of the Youth Stakeholders Forum,
organised by the state’s Ignite Enterprise and
Employability Project in partnership with the After
School Graduate Development Centre.
Fashola said the government, in partnership with the
Chair Centre, would provide a soft loan of N110m in total
for trainees in the photography, agriculture and beauty
enterprises.
The governor said, “The government has realised that
some of the trainees under the AGDC programmes do
not have money to procure equipment. The Chair Centre,
owned by the Chairman of AGDC, Mrs. Ibukun
Awosika, has come up with an idea to provide a seed sum
of N10m that would be available to 100 trainees at N100,
000 each over a 26 month period.
“So, the government has decided to support the initiative
by providing an additional N100m that will be available to
1,000 trainees thus making the seed sum a total of N110m
that is available to 1,100 trainees.”
Fashola explained that the funds would be managed
through a micro finance bank, urging interested youths to
apply for the soft loan and to have a business plan in place.
According to him, as each of the beneficiaries pays back,
the loan will be rolled back to accommodate others who
have not benefitted and allow the trainees to create a
credit history with the financial institution.
Fashola said the AGDC intervention had brought positive
developments, adding that for the past five years, Lagos
State had remained Polio free because no child had been
infected as the immunisation coverage of the state had been
very extensive.