A Lagos-based business owner, who is nick named as Diran Adeyemi, was shortlisted for a grant to cushion the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on small scale businesses, but he would be defrauded by the government officials in charge of disbursement.
In response to the pandemic, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSTF), initiated a grant for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The government disbursed the grant through ‘COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES)’, a subunit under LSTF.
A website was created to allow applicants register for the intervention, and Adeyemi applied for N350,000.
“A government official was sent to my office to find out if truly I ran a business. She interviewed me briefly, asking how long I had been running the business, the challenges the business faced and a few other questions,” said Adeyemi.
Adeyemi had got a congratulatory message from the scheme on March 23, 2021. “Your application for Lagos MSMEs Recovery Fund 2.0 was successful and you have been awarded a grant sum to support your business in this difficult time,” the text read.
“Kindly visit our Liaison offices at your respective LGAs from Thursday, 24th March 2022, to pick up your grant offer letter. Please ensure that you come along with the following: Access Bank account, a witness from your organization, national Identity card and evidence of your business account.”
Adeyemi was delighted. “I informed a few family members of the text message I got. I was encouraged to get there early the next day,” he said.
“I got to Kosofe Local Government office in Ogudu. I waited about two hours for the officials to arrive. On their arrival, I called out my name to them and showed my business identity card.”
He said the officials glanced through the list but could not find his name.
He would later be given the privilege to check the list. “He then handed over the list to me to search through. I found my name with the N350,000 I had applied for printed beside it,” he said.
Adeyemi said the official then gave him a pen to sign. “I appended my signature immediately and he handed over my letter to me,” he said.
Opening the letter, Adeyemi was stunned to see N90,000 instead of the N350,000 he had applied for. “When I opened the letter, to my greatest surprise, I saw N90,000. I asked why, but he could not make out any reasonable justification for this fraud,” he said.
Adeyemi gave another account of a business owner standing next to him. The business owner said she applied for a N500,000 grant but ended up getting N40,000, according to Adeyemi. “We both stood there speechless for a few minutes.”
“I also noticed something fishy,” he said. “Why would Lagos State insist recipients’ bank account must be Access Bank. Not everybody uses Access Bank. I suspect some connivance with those officials and Access Bank.”
Adeyemi said he could not imagine such a good initiative by the state government being mismanaged by a few greedy officials. “This level of corruption is too much. We complain about the government. Imagine this!”
The contact on LSTF’s website was not reachable. At press time, a detailed enquiry sent to the agency’s email had not been acknowledged or responded to.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
