Economy
Lagos To Finance 100,000 SMEs With N25b
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Not less than 100,000 entrepreneurs are expected to access the N25 billion Employment Trust Fund put in place by the Lagos State government.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos on Monday at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Mr, Akintunde Oyebode, pointed out that the financial support was aimed at helping Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state grow.
According to him, by 2019, 100,000 entrepreneurs must have benefited from the trust fund, but stressed that beneficiaries would have to fulfil some obligations, including being duly registered by the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) among others.
Mr Oyebode noted that the fund was in line with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s vision to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for all Lagosians.
He disclosed that the Board set up to manage the funds had spent the last few months perfecting strategies and addressing grey areas ahead of the commencement of the disbursement of the funds later this year.
Explaining further, he said the Board of Trustees embarked on several strategy sessions to define the mission, vision, core values and strategic framework to guide the Fund’s activities.
“After the completion of the research exercise, the Board working with its appointed consultants developed a strategic framework articulating the goals of the Board, the key interventions designed to enhance job creation, and the supporting infrastructure needed to deliver the set goals. This exercise has now been concluded and approved by the Lagos State Executive Council,” he said.
Highlighting some of the framework for the disbursement, Oyebode said the fund would provide loans to MSMEs at a single digit interest rates per annum, while training and capacity building and technical support would be provided to drive growth and job creation.
“The businesses we support must demonstrate capacity to repay our loans; be owned by Lagos residents duly registered by the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA); show evidence of tax payments to the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS); and have valid Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs).
“In addition to our MSME financing schemes, we will also train unemployed residents to either take up identified jobs or run their businesses,” he said.
Mr Oyebode added that in adherence with Section 6 of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law of 2016, the Board has forwarded the Operating Guidelines outlining the proposed interventions and eligibility criteria for approval by the Lagos State House of Assembly.
He expressed optimism that the fund would have multiplier effect with the capacity to create 300,000 direct and 600,000 indirect jobs while about 200,000 new tax payers would be added to the State’s tax net.
He said that the LSETF Board, in order to ensure sustainability of the Fund, has set its target to raise a minimum of N25 billion from domestic and international donors, in addition to the N25billion already committed by the State Government.
“Once the pilot phase is completed, we will roll out our loan schemes in all 57 LGAs and LCDAs across Lagos State. The full rollout will see us visit all LGAs to hold stakeholder sessions, where our staff will educate applicants on the application process, and the eligibility criteria for our various schemes. We are also in the process of setting up liaison offices in 20 LGAs, to bring the Fund’s activities closer to the people, and increase our points of representation to serve Lagos residents,” he said.
Corroborating him, Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Dr Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti said Governor Ambode’s administration was committed to ensuring the fund impacts on the lives of Lagosians.
He lauded the plan by the LSETF Board to set up offices in 20 Local Governments in the State, saying that it would go a long way to ensuring that no area is marginalized.
“It is important that this process has taken considerable time, we need to make it work and also ensure that it is to the benefit of all Lagosians,” Mr Durosinmi-Etti said.
Adding his voice, Chairman, House Committee on Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr Sola Giwa, assured that members of the House would give the Operational Guidelines of the fund expeditious passage.
“This is one of the pivotal promises of Governor Ambode and I can assure you that the House would do its best to ensure that we do it right,” Mr Giwa said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.
The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.
President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.
Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices edged up on possible disruptions from a US blockade of Venezuelan tankers as the market waits for news about a possible Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
Brent futures rose 65 cents or 1.1 per cent to $60.47 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 51 cents or 0.9 per cent to $56.66 per barrel. Both Brent and WTI were down about 1 per cent this week after both crude benchmarks fell about 4 per cent last week.
US President Donald Trump said he was leaving the possibility of war with Venezuela on the table, noting that there would be additional seizures of oil tankers near Venezuelan waters after the US seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week.
The American President this week ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in the US’ latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government, targeting its main source of income. The pressure campaign on President Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed at least 90 people.
President Trump has also previously said that US land strikes on the South American country will soon start.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that the US is not concerned about an escalation with Russia when it comes to Venezuela, as the Trump administration builds up military forces in the Caribbean.
This development comes as President Trump seeks an end to the unending war between Ukraine and Russia that is heading towards its fourth year.
European Union leaders decided on Friday to borrow cash to loan 90 billion Euros to Ukraine to fund its defense against Russia for the next two years as Russian President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on Friday on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine and accused the European Union of attempting “daylight robbery” of Russian assets.
Ukraine, meanwhile, struck a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea with aerial drones for the first time.
Earlier this week, the US and Ukraine both signaled progress in negotiations about a peace agreement during talks in German capital city of Berlin. The US is now reportedly offering Ukraine security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pledge.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
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