Senator launches N300m constituency loan

Worried by how access to finance has been a major challenge for local businesses in the country, Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, has provided a N300 million Constituency Intervention Revolving Loan of six per cent per annum for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and entrepreneurs in the district.

He noted that with the effort, many prospective entrepreneurs who feared embarking on business ventures as a result of financial insolvency would be able to start after embracing the empowerment scheme.

At the launch of the empowerment scheme in Lagos, Abiru remarked that it was meant to boost the country’s economy through the provision of loan to MSMEs, which contribute about 50 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

He said the initiative would not only reduce unemployment and alleviate poverty but also foster economic progress and ensure social stability in the country.

“This Constituency Intervention Revolving Loan for MSMEs will go a long way in bringing succour to our numerous small businesses in the Lagos East Senatorial District. It will be adding values to a particular sector of the economy that constitutes about 80 per cent of the employment.

“To ensure the sustainability of the scheme, we have developed a risk management framework to make the scheme an enduring and revolving facility that will impact many more people beyond the first round of beneficiaries,” he said.

He revealed that about 1,000 beneficiaries would benefit from the first phase of the intervention.

He acknowledged the efforts of the partnering companies – Bank of Industries, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN)- in ensuring that the finances for the project were made available.

Abiru, however, urged the beneficiaries to use the money judiciously.

Speaking at the event, former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, Wale Edun, commended Abiru for his efforts towards alleviating poverty in the state.

One of the beneficiaries, Akinremi Oladele, applauded the initiative, saying his barbing saloon would receive a facelift with the N300,000 intervention he obtained through the scheme.