Lagos Waives N410m Interest on N2.8bn Loans to MSMEs

By Adedapo Adesanya

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Lagos will get N410 million moratorium on loans spread across three months in order to stay afloat during the current coronavirus pandemic that has affected business activities in the state.

This was done as directed by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

It means interest up to N410 million will not be paid on the N2.8 billion loans given out through the Lagos State employment Trust Funds (LSETF).

Governor Sanwo-Olu said this gesture was part of the state’s palliatives to cushion the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on micro and medium-scale businesses.

Announcing the relief, he said: “We are supporting small businesses. At LSETF, we have 1,170 SMEs and 2,160 Micro Enterprises across sectors in Agriculture, Education, Information Technology, Food Processing, Transport, among many others with a total outstanding loan balance of over N2.8 billion.

“We are granting a three months moratorium on principal and interest worth over N410 million.

“This will go a long way to reduce the pressure on these businesses as a result of the economy freeze occasioned by COVID-19.”

In addition, the state government would be providing a free meal to 100,000 young people across communities in Lagos on a daily basis.

The daily feeding scheme, Mr Sanwo-Olu said would be decentralised, with each local council having its food kitchen domiciled at a pre-arranged location agreed upon by residents. The Governor also said residents of each local council would know the food vendors to be engaged by the Government for the feeding programme.

It was reiterated that 250,000 vulnerable persons already identified in social registers of the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) would be getting conditional cash transfer as a form of support for them in the period of the lockdown.

The beneficiaries, according to the Governor will not be part of the people that had already got relief food packages from the Government in previous weeks.

He further disclosed that the State met its set target of reaching out to 200,000 households in the first segment of the Food Stimulus Package coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Community Development Associations (CDAs), pointing out that the State Government still had a large cache of food items in its warehouse to be shared among various segments of the residents.