No fewer than 5 million Nigerians are set to benefit from TraderMoni, an initiative of the Federal Government which was flagged-off by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
This was announced by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq during a visit to the Command Centre of the TraderMoni programme located at the Bank of Industry Building in Abuja.
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The minister made known that the Federal Government would increase the number of beneficiaries from the 2.5 million to 5 million annually. Farouq added that the implementation of the TraderMoni programme was a huge success and that through it, the government would be able to achieve its objective of reducing the level of poverty in the country.
What Trader Moni initiative is all about: TraderMoni is meant to help very small scale traders to easily get loans without collateral in Nigeria for the purpose of expanding their small businesses. It avails artisans, street hawkers, and petty traders opportunity to have access to loan facilities from N10,000.
The initiative was launched under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI).
Unlike the existing GEEP Market Moni loan scheme, which targets market women, traders, artisans, and enterprising youths, TraderMoni is a micro-credit scheme to cater for ultra-micro enterprises.
The initiative, which has started nationwide, is to support millions of Nigerians to grow their businesses by having access to loan irrespective of their status or level of education.
[READ ALSO: Petty traders in Niger State gets FG’s TraderMoni fund]
Since its launch, the initiative has covered states like Osun, Kano, Abia and Akwa Ibom, Abuja, and so on. Beneficiaries of this scheme must belong to an accredited market association or cooperative group registered with their state’s Corporate Affairs Commission.
Although the initiative has received criticisms since it first began, it is still thriving against all odds. One of the criticisms came from the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo who described it as an outrightly idiotic programme for being more interested in traders in the urban areas than those in the rural areas.
