FirstBank, LSETF partner on low interest funds to private schools

First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced its partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) in a matching fund scheme.

The scheme aims to cushion the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on low-cost private schools by ensuring lending at an attractive interest rate.

The programme will provide access to finance where participating schools can each be availed up to N5 million as well as capacity development, business and financial advisory. There will be monitoring and evaluation to ensure prompt loan repayment.

To enjoy this funding opportunity, applications will be submitted via the LSETF portal for screening, while successful applicants will be passed on to FirstBank for the loan appraisal and disbursement process.

The loan is meant for working capital and asset finance to enable schools to resuscitate their practice, acquire needed materials, and upgrade their facilities, as well as pay staff salaries to bounce back, especially after the lockdown.

The Bank said this scheme promotes entrepreneurship in Lagos State, which is in tandem with the vision of LSETF to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Lagos residents. It has provisions for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across all the 57 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Lagos State.

Commenting, First Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said: “at FirstBank, we recognise the indelible role played by the education sector in the growth of any economy and this underscores our partnership with Lagos State Government for continuous development of the education services in Lagos State and the nation as a whole. The commitment by the Lagos State Government – including this partnership to enable schools is quite commendable, as this will mitigate the challenges caused by the lockdown on the education sector following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With the single-digit funding targeted at about 2,000 low-cost private schools in the State, we are delighted at this opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to the development of education in Lagos State, thereby contributing our quota to further the mandate of the Lagos State Government – in partnership with LSETF – on economic growth, enhanced opportunities for employment and bridging societal gaps in education,” he concluded.

Also speaking on the Eduloan programme, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, LSETF, Mrs Bola Adesola, said: “According to the NESG, the Education Sector remains a growth area for job creation. And a report on job creation by the NBS states that the education sector is one of the top five sectors that created over 59 million jobs in 2019. This fact is buttressed by the data collected by LSETF in previous loan programmes. The objective of the LSETF-FirstEdu loan is to create employment, improve the quality of education for our youth by providing access to affordable finance to low-cost private schools and vocational training centres.

“We are confident that this intervention fund, which is complemented by our free professional and institutional support structures, will ensure that the education ecosystem in Lagos State will witness an improvement in the overall learning outcomes for our children, while positively impacting on the Lagos local economy through wealth and job creation,” she stated.

Recently, FirstBank partnered with the Lagos State Government, Robert & John, IBM and Curious Learning with a resolve to enable the education of 1 million Nigerian students through innovative eLearning solutions that will drive sustainable efforts towards improving education for all. As part of the partnership, the Bank donated 20,000 units of e-learning devices to the Lagos State government.