Lagos Assembly Passes Regulation on State Employment Trust Fund

The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed Regulation on the Administration of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund with an interest rate of 5 percent annually for every qualified applicant.

The Regulation was passed by the House following a report, which was presented by the Chairman of the House committee on Wealth Creation and Employment, Hon. Sola Giwa.

Speaking with journalists after plenary, Giwa stated that the State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode is poised to fulfil his promises to the people, saying that this necessitated the passage of the Regulation for the guidelines on the running of the loans to be disbursed.

The lawmaker explained that “the Fund is a pool of resources from tax payers’ money. It is done so that the current challenges of not having white collar jobs will be addressed.”

He further stated that the disbursement would be done on the basis of merit, adding that it would be fund made available to genuine residents in the state irrespective of political or tribal inclinations.

Section 12 of the regulation states that “conditions for granting of loan include interest rate of 5 percent per annum; repayment period of 36 months; personal life protection policy, comprehensive insurance cover; moratorium period of six months; 10 percent equity contribution by the beneficiary of the loan and evidence of clean credit record issued by the Fund’s bank.’

In section 6, the Regulation stipulated that the loan limit is a maximum of N500,000.00 per person or household.

In section 13, an applicant also must fulfill some conditions for the loan to be granted.

The security for the loan included personal guarantee of the principal promoters; two guarantors that must be resident in Lagos State and they must submit a copy of the Lagos Stats Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) among others.

It was also noted in Section 5 that an applicant shall fill out the prescribed form and shall submit same to the Executive Secretary of the Fund with evidence of Lagos residency, valid bank verification number and tax card of the directors or owner.

Under section 9, eligible beneficiaries shall be businesses operating within the state.

It was however, stated that the loan may be sourced from micro-businesses in groups or clusters across the various local governments and local council development areas.

Those eligible for the loan include trade associations, registered cooperative groups or societies and referral from council areas.