The Lagos State Government says it will provide loans for any graduate of its technical colleges that indicates interest to start up business in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope- Adefulire, said this on Wednesday during the 2014 Enterprise Day in Alausa, Ikeja.
The event, which was organised by the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board, was designed to develop a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Orelope-Adefulire explained that the free- interest loans would be given to the graduates without any collateral, except the proof that they were graduates of any of the government-owned technical colleges.
She said, “The loan will be processed through the Lagos State Micro Finance Institution, and forms will be provided for the graduates at their institutions.”
She added that the Enterprise Day was a programme that the government designed to articulate and foster enterprise education among technical college students.
She said the programme was geared towards encouraging the students to embrace entrepreneurial activities and develop the right attitude to entrepreneurship and self employment.
She said, “We have chosen to champion vocational and technical education as it focuses specifically on providing job-related skills for students, while also preparing them to be better positioned to develop new enterprises.
“We have not departed from the position that technical and vocational education presents a complementary approach to general education.
“Our students are given the right opportunity to explore and identify potential career goals and are provided with the resources needed to achieve goals through technical partnership with industry stakeholders.”
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, in her address, said the day was aimed at instilling a positive attitude in Lagos youths towards entrepreneurship.
She said the government did curriculum re- alignment in the technical colleges to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship, skills, training, involvement of industries and public-private partnership in technical and vocational education for meeting emerging needs of a globalised economy.

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