Lagos initiates N6.25b poverty alleviation scheme

The Lagos State Government, on Monday, constituted an Employment Trust Fund (ETF) programme for wealth creation through entrepreneurial development to alleviate unemployment in the state.

Addressing Lagosians on the event held at Bero Hall, Alausa, Ikeja, , Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Civic Engagement, Mr. Kehinde Joseph, said the state government has promised to institute ETF fund to assist the youths and other residents of the state to grow economically and achieve individual aspirations.

He further stressed that ETF would help address the challenges of unemployment and promote wealth creation through entrepreneurial development, adding that an annual contribution of N6.25billion will be injected into the Fund by the State Government for a period of 4years totaling N25 billion.

He maintained that the scheme is not about indigenes or class in the society. Joseph howeber said that residency in the state, with assured guarantor, would be a criteria for benefitting in the scheme.

In the same vein, an APC chieftain in Lagos State, Mrs. Kemi Nelson lauded the initiative, saying; “It’s a way of sending poverty out of the land”.

Scores of participants at the event were of the opinion that the ETF would yield a positive result.