- Plans to lift one million out of poverty
Lagos State Government Thursday gave 100 small business owners in the Alimosho Local Government Area of the state smart PoS phones to boost their businesses digitally.
The state through the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Program (dubbed Lagos -CARES) plans to give one million small business owners the smart PoS phones to reduce poverty level in the country.
At the presentation, the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Mrs. Teju Abisoye, said the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is aware of the negative effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on residents of the state and hopes to eradicate poverty with the programme.
She said the CARES Programme is a state-level intervention that seeks to mitigate and cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the residents of Lagos.
She disclosed that the programme is financed by the World Bank, adding that it is for men and women.
She however noted that the World Bank directs that focus should be more on 70 per cent women and 30 per cent men, having identified women as the most vulnerable.
She stated that the programme aside from enabling the small business owners to provide PoS services, would also allow them have get credit grant, operations grant and IT Enhancement Grant.
She explained that under Credit Grant, there will be conditional capital grant for co-financing up to 40 per cent of new loans that were taken by June 2020 and originated by a financial institution licensed by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to qualified beneficiaries in COVID-19 crisis.
She said: “For Operations Grant, conditional grants would be given to support ongoing operational expenditure, bringing about employment and job creation grants. This covers operating expenses such as payroll, rent, utilities, alternative power supply among others. It also excludes taxes and regulatory levies. (The Nation)