Lack of awareness hindering many from accessing over N16bn investment fund in Lagos — Hammond 

By Moses Adeniyi

Lack of awareness is responsible for preventing many residents, prospective entrepreneurs, and businesses in Lagos  from benefiting from the plethora of programmes available for empowerment as provided by the Lagos State Government, Nigerian NewsDirect has gathered.

The Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, Solape Hammond, disclosed this on Wednesday at a Validation Workshop on Policy Audit and Mapping aimed at mapping and analysis of laws, policies, and instructions for development of Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) and Employment Promotion in Lagos.

Hammond who lamented the communication gap which has limited  prospective entrepreneurs from accessing various empowerment programmes of the State Government, said no less than N16billion available in the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) were not demanded for.

Mentioning that there are several programmes that only about 16 percent of the potential beneficiaries are aware of, she said of the over N16billion LSETF available provision, N10billion was available for female businesses, N5billion for businesses in the education sector; one billion for tourism.

“There is a big pit which is communication. No matter how Government try to communicate, people are not aware of some of our programmes or policies,” she said.

Calling on prospective beneficiaries to come forward to access the funds for investment purposes, Hammond said the State Government is intensifying efforts to increase awareness.

“These programmes have been created just to help them and there are a lot of them out there. People are asking for access to finance but we have more than N16billion available in the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) in conjunction with our private sector partners: N10billion for female businesses, N5bn for businesses in the education sector; one billion for tourism, and people are not aware.

“We are waiting for them to come forward, trying to get them on board so that their businesses can grow. So, it’s really addressing communication,” Hammond said.

According to the Special Adviser, the strategic  contributions and recommendations from the various stakeholders, including experts and professionals, who converged for the Summit would be given optimum consideration to improve on business environment in the State.

Assuring the State Government would give optimum consideration to maximise the benefits of the recommendations for policy reorientation, she said: “At the end of the day, what we want to do is to improve practices in the business sectors in general, the real estate sector and the classic value chain.”

Speaking on the deliberations of the forum, she said: “We looked at things that different agencies, both State and Federal, can do better. I think it was a very rounded and spirited conversation.  We are very happy to have all sides represented here and agreeing on the way forward.  “What next is to then look at the recommendations in the reports, put together a team to implement and ensure that we are all working together for an enabling environment for businesses in Lagos. The first is a review of existing policies to make sure that things that are obsolete are eliminated.

“There have been recommendations around policies that can be put in place to encourage greater patronage for small businesses, supporting greater market off-takes for businesses in the agriculture sector and several others.

“Another issue is the implementation case, monitoring and making sure these   things we have said are right to do and actually done.”

The stakeholders who converged for the Validation Workshop on policy audit aimed at mapping and analysis of laws, policies, and instructions for development of MSMEs in the State, include relevant State and Federal agencies, private stakeholders, Associations, the Bank of Agriculture, and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, among others.

Subjects discussed, upon which recommendations were made, bordered on access to finance, enforcing contracts, multiple taxation, policy inadequacy and specific policies around MSMEs, among other business and sectoral perspectives.