The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday, announced a N750m financial intervention scheme for Lagos traders tagged ‘Lagos Trader Money’.
The scheme will see 15,000 traders across all the local government areas of the state– 200 from each LGA – receive N50,000 each to boost their businesses.
Announcing the scheme during the unveiling of the Mid-level Agro-Produce Hub at Idi-Oro, in the Mushin area of the state, the governor said the Commissioner for Agriculture and the local government chairmen in the state would meet to map out the modalities for the disbursement of the fund.
He said, “The government has come up with an intervention for all market men and women. The Market/Trader Money is for 15,000 beneficiaries as support. Each beneficiary will get N50,000 from the government. Each local government will submit 200 names.”
“We will give them the money. The Commissioner for Agriculture and local government chairmen will sit together to work on the logistics. It is something that must start tomorrow (Monday). We want to ensure that we disburse the funds before the end of this week. We don’t want to get into the new year and begin to tell stories.
“The funds have already been made available. And we know that this scheme will give our people, your people, more money to boost their trade,” the governor said.
Speaking with The PUNCH after the event on the 15,000 beneficiaries of the scheme, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said, “The number of beneficiaries will increase as time goes on.”
Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu, while speaking on the newly unveiled mid-level agro-produce hub, noted that the project, which is under his government’s Food System Transformation Agenda, was borne out of the need “to improve the current system which is inundated by wastage, post-harvest losses, traffic congestion, and other inefficiencies that result in the loss of over 50 per cent of agricultural produce, especially in perishables.”
“This transformation journey is hinged on our five-year Agricultural and Food Systems Roadmap (2021-2026) which reflects our passionate commitment to boosting food production, processing and marketing,” he added.
The governor further stated that, as part of his government’s commitment to the food system transformation agenda, “the construction of the Central Logistics Hub at Ketu-Ereyun, Epe, is ongoing while the smallest of the pilot, the mid-level agro-produce hub is being inaugurated today.
“This will be followed by the construction of additional three hubs at the Agege, Ajah, and Abule-Ado axes of the state. In all, the plan is to construct 50 mid-level agro-produce hubs across the state.”
