Evaluating Lagos’ empowerment initiatives

 Adebayo Omobolaji. M.

THE harsh reality of the havoc that poverty, if allowed to flourish, could unleash on the world is what makes poverty eradication a foremost part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A recent World Bank report affirms that 1/7th of the world’s population lives in abject poverty. Nigeria, according to a 2013 World Bank data, is one of the top five countries with the leading number of poor.

According to a National Bureau of Statistics report, the country’s unemployment rate is 14.2%. Nigeria unemployment however has averaged between 23.63 percent in 2014 until 2018, reaching 38 percent in the second quarter of 2018. This is particularly disturbing.

Lagos, being the country’s economic, industrial and commercial hub, could experience untoward social-economic consequences if Nigeria’s poverty and unemployment situation is not frontally addressed.

Since Lagos State is home to about 21million Nigerians, it is safe to affirm that the state, which is the fifth largest economy in Africa, feels the brunt of the menace of youth employment the most. That Lagos alone accounts for over 70% of national industrial investments makes it attractive to job seekers from all across the country.

It is in realisation of this that the Sanwo-Olu administration made ‘Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy’ a leading part of its T.H.E.M.E.S (acronyms for Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21ST Economy, Entertainment and Tourism and Governance and Security) Developmental Agenda.

An integral part of this is the evolution of several initiatives aimed at empowering the residents for socio-economic emancipation. The various initiatives are conceived, coordinated and implemented by agencies such as the ministries of wealth creation and employment, education, agriculture, youth and social development, commerce, industry and cooperatives, Office of Civic Engagement, Office of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) among others.

In Lagos, unemployed youths fall into various categories: university graduates; those with medium level education certificate, school certificate holders and drop outs and those who never made it beyond primary schools.

Cheerfully, the various interventions of the government take cognisance of this categorization. For instance, to prepare graduates for life after school, the Ready-Set-Work was launched. It is an entrepreneurial and employability training programme aimed at ensuring that every student who graduates from any tertiary institution in Lagos have the knowledge, skills, and attitude required to gain employment upon graduation. Thousands of graduates have been empowered from the scheme. Similarly, the CodeLagos scheme, aimed at making coding education and technology accessible to Lagosians, principally targets the youth, and it holds across the six educational districts of the state with a total of 611 facilitators and over 27,000 participants.

For young residents with ingenious business ideas, the LSETF comes handy with its three-in-one programme. It facilitates access to quick and affordable loans for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to start up, build, expand and create wealth and employment for the residents. From 2019 till date, over 5,000 residents have been empowered through the fund.

The government’s efforts at empowering MSMEs operatives are paying off. The state was declared as the ‘Best State Supporting Artisans’ in the Federation at a programme organized by Global Sight Services Limited in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment and the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises of Nigerian [SMEDAN].

In order to expand its scope, the Sanwo-Olu administration launched the LSETF “W” Initiative to help women birth their entrepreneurial dreams into reality. In 2019, Sanwo-Olu presented cheque to 794 female beneficiaries of the ‘W’ initiative. In partnership with Access Bank, up to N5 million can be obtained through the initiative, which allows more women to come into the financial inclusion net and improve their businesses.

Similarly, in a bid to help businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a N5 Billion “Lagos Economic Acceleration Programme (LSETF-LEAP)” was recently unveiled.

The LSETF-LEAP is a sector-specific intervention programme aimed at supporting MSMEs businesses, driving growth and enabling job creation opportunities across targeted sectors that have been severely affected by the pandemic.

The programme seeks to provide access to affordable finance at a single-digit interest rate, enhance capacity building, foster market linkages and leverage business expansion opportunities for its beneficiaries. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises applicants are to visit the LSETF website: www.lsetf.ng to apply.

The agency also trains and places unemployed Lagos residents in jobs, while driving innovative solutions for businesses and residents within the Lagos ecosystem.

The state’s empowerment strategy also has a skill acquisition dimension for those who want to acquire vocations such as textile design, hair dressing, barbing, cosmetology, photography, shoe and leatherworks, fashion design, tiling, interior decoration, and Ankara craft among others. This is done in the state’s over 28 Skill Acquisition Centres, where over 25,000 Lagosians have acquired diverse skills.

Efforts are constantly made to develop the skills of graduates of the centres. Recently, 2,000 tradesmen and artisans were reskilled through the re-skilling programme developed to equip them towards becoming 21st-century compliant.

Widows and other vulnerable women are equally not left out in the state’s empowerment scheme. At a mega empowerment programme held at the Blue Roof, LTV, Agidingbi, Ikeja, in 2019, 1,050 vulnerable women were empowered with working tools such as sewing machines, hairdryers and clippers, pepper grinding machines, generators and popcorn making machines. Similarly, 200 household heads for orphans and vulnerable children were empowered with 76 grinding machines, 69 sewing machines, 10   tools, 10 deep freezers, 15 hair-drying machines, 10 braving equipment and 7 ovens among others.

Many residents are equally being empowered through diverse agricultural empowerment schemes. For instance, 1,750 agricultural value chains actors were empowered with various agricultural productive assets and inputs. Equally, through the maiden Eko-City Farmers’ Market scheme, a total of N7.9million transaction was recorded, while direct supply of fresh produce such as tomatoes, pepper, plantain, vegetables and fruits were also facilitated to the 53 collection centers in the state. Also, 5,575 women and youths were trained in various agricultural value chains ventures.

Though the task of tackling poverty and unemployment might seem herculean, but the Sanwo-Olu administration has demonstrated, through its numerous creative initiatives, that with the required will both monsters could be overcome.

• Adebayo is of Features Unit Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.