Lagos State Government has announced the commencement of disbursement of N6.25billion being the first tranche of N25 billion, Employment Trust Fund, ETF, to beneficiaries come September, 2016 even as it warned against false declaration of data which attract both fines and jail term on conviction.

An Awareness/Sensitization programme on how to access the fund which was made to stimulate the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the state economy, was held in Alausa, Ikeja.

Addressing participants who were largely market women, artisans, young entrepreneurs among others The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, his counterpart from Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti and Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Mr. Kehinde Joseph both assured that disbursement of the fund will commence in September this year.

Durosinmi-Etti however regretted the delay in accessing the fund saying, “The reason for the delay is for the board to finalize the process for accessing the funds.” He explained that the repayment of the fund will be determined by the profession which the fund was borrowed for. According to him “The fund is to spur the beneficiaries, engender the development of entrepreneurial spirit among the youths and residents to tackle the problem of unemployment.

We believe that with this measure in place, more residents will participate in the economic growth of the state. “This approach is one of the many strategic adopted by this administration to enhance productivity, reduce social conflict and ensure socio-economic growth of the state,” he added. Joseph in his address, however, said the beneficiaries “must be proven hard-working and innovative youths who must possess the acumen to exploit the existing business opportunities in their environment and discover new ones with a view to creating wealth and employment.”