Anofiu Elegushi, Commissioner for Home Affairs in Lagos on Sunday said the about 400 money lenders registered across the state in the last two years were boosting the micro-economic growth of businesses in Nigeria’s commercial nerve-centre.

Mr Elegushi, said this during the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing in Ikeja.

The commissioner declared that the ministry was in partnership with the money lenders sector.

He said that arrangement was structured in a way that most of such organisations were mandated to register with the ministry for the coordination of their activities.

”In return, the ministry registers, profiles and monitors the viability of such lending companies.

”This is in ensuring that while the money lenders are in business, the general public is also protected from scammers and people of questionable characters, while we also regulate the activities of the companies,” he said.

According to him, the partnership has  assisted small scale business owners in the state to keep their petty businesses afloat without having to contend with high interest rates of the big banks.

”This activity has contributed to the micro-economic growth of businesses in the state,” he said.

The commissioner said that the state government had since the year 2000 encouraged public-private partnership.

Mr Elegushi said that the government had been involved with public-private partnerships to the extent that other state governments in Nigeria come to understudy the Lagos State, with the hope of replicating the same in their respective states.

He said that Lagos remained the first when it came to collaborations and that had resulted in the progress made so far in all sectors of the Lagos economy, making it a 21st Century city comparable to other major world cities like New York, Paris, London.

(NAN)