The lawmaker representing Badagry Constituency 1 in Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Bonu Solomon on Friday said more millionaires will emerge from his entrepreneurship summit in less than two years.
The lawmaker gave the assurance during the maiden edition of Bonu Empowerment Initiative tagged Badagry Entrepreneurship Summit organised by the lawmaker.
Solomon said that the initiative would give many young graduates opportunity to engage in profitable things apart from the idea of civil service they were clamouring for.
” I thought that the pressure on civil service is high,, everybody wants to work with the government and the government has deemed fit to create an opportunity for people to tap into not being a civil servant.
“But unfortunately, the people are not looking into it and it is all about information so what we need to do is to bring the information down here for them.
“The initiative engages youths in agricultural sector and other profitable sectors of the economic.
“It will also provide opportunity for them to tap into the grant that Lagos State state and Federal Government are giving out,” he said.
The lawmaker said that after training them in the area of the agricultural sector, the beneficiaries of the summit would have opportunities to collect loans from Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF).
He said that he had invited the officials of LSETF and that of Bank of Industry to the summit so that they can have access to loans after the training.
“My intention is that in the next two years, I want to see millionaires coming up from this initiative,.
“I want to see young graduates standing on their own, not looking for work that is not available.
“I am happy to tell everyone that when we rolled out forms for the initiative, over 1,000 youths applied and we have to shut it down because we don't have enough space for them.
“We have decided to take next step when we are successful with this first edition,” he said.
The lawmaker urged the beneficiaries of the initiative to make good use the loans they will collect after the training.
“If we train you and give you the opportunity, it is not a medium that you now collect the loan, don’t spend it extravagantly,” he said.
Mrs. Serifat Balogun, a Director in LSETF said the purpose of the LSESF was to empower youths with jobs and give them access to affordable training and have access to market after training.
She said LSETF would then give youths loans to start a business.
“The process is very easy, you just have to bring your LASRA, Lagos state residency to know your address and also your BVN that is all, every other thing is minimal.
“You can receive loan as high as from N1m to N5m once it has been confirmed and your account statement has been looked into.
“The people we give loans to are people that undergo our trainings so they are well known by us. We know the type of things they can do, their ideas and the amount needed to successfully run the business,” she said.
She urged the beneficiaries of the initiative to learn and know their trades, adding that once you know it, you know it.
Dr. Sewhude Akande, the Publisher, Citymood Magazine said the initiative will reduce unemployment among the youths in Badagry.
He said that he would counsel the beneficiaries on how to navigate the business challenges especially in a place like this, how to develop their business ideas.
Comrade David Aladeotan, the Vice-Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) Lagos West, said the initiative is a right one in the right direction.
“Currently, we all remember that there was a food crisis in the country and stakeholders have begun to look at how we can we solve this problem.
“Some of us have continued to engage ourselves and continue to inform stakeholders that we need more people to go back into farming and not just that but also encourage small scale businesses.
“We need to train them on how they can actually tap opportunity so when I saw this programme I was very happy and impressed because it is actually going to solve a lot of problems for young people who are ready to change their status,” he said.
0 Comments