An Employment Trust Fund Bill 2015 by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, has been sent to the State House of Assembly for consideration and ratification.
This bill is aimed at radically transforming employment creation in the state with N25bn proposed to be spent over four years as a support scheme for young entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde in a statement said the Employment Trust Fund Bill is in fulfillment of one of the campaign promises of Governor Ambode, which aims to inject N25bn into job creation and employment opportunities over a period of four years. The fund will be administered as soft loans to bona fide residents of the state that desire facilities ranging from N100,000 to N1,000,000, or more, as the case may be.
“Just about 1% interest rate will be charged on the loan to take care of administrative expenses. The state government’s desire is to allow enterprising Lagos residents who do not have access to loans or other forms of finance with stringent conditions enjoy repayable soft loans to establish a business venture or rescue a struggling small concern,” he said.
The scheme will be supervised by the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, created by the Ambode administration, while the funds will be channeled through the state’s microfinance institution.