Lagos State Government has said it has supported 1,835 businesses affected by the #EndSARS protest mayhem with N939.98 million.
The Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, made this known during the 2021 ministerial press briefing in commemoration of the second year in office of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
She said the ministry set up the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Recovery Fund to support businesses in the state, whose properties and assets were vandalised during the post EndSARS protest that rocked the nation in October last year.
Arobieke said that with funding from the government, corporate organisations and individuals, businesses were supported with grant sums ranging from N50,000 to N5million to beneficiaries to rebuild their businesses.
“With a total of 1,835 beneficiaries and N939.98 million disbursed, 10,005 direct jobs and 40,020 indirect jobs were saved.
“The achievements recorded so far by the ministry have been made possible through the support of Governor Sanwo-Olu in his pursuits to mitigate unemployment in the state,” the commissioner said.
She said the governor has approved the creation of a model and robust online marketplace with a lot of features that make it globally competitive.
She said the informal sector, largely populated by artisans, was faced with challenges in the areas of access to market, inadequate or lack of finance and access to capacity development.
The commissioner said the challenges were being holistically addressed through the development of the online portal, a marketplace for artisans and consumers.
