Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo,
says the statement by former president Olusegun Obasanjo on the Federal
Government’s TraderMoni microcredit scheme is most unfortunate.
Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media & Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, in a rejoinder Monday
night noted that “it is either that the former leader is ignorant of the true
workings of Trader Moni and the role of the Vice President in its
implementation or perhaps he is on a mischievous mission.”
According to Akande, the former
President has demonstrated “a surprising but complete misunderstanding of the
workings of TraderMoni, that is if we assume there is no mischief intended.”
He said: “Firstly, the Vice
President does not personally distribute money during his visits to the
markets. He goes there to assess the progress of the implementation and to
create awareness for a programme designed to meet the financing need of 2 million
petty traders across the country in the first instance.
“Secondly, while one will not
bother to further address the issue of timing of the implementation since such
issues are now known to be political posturing, it is important to note that
TraderMoni is being actively implemented across all states of the federation
and the FCT. It is not only Lagos and Abuja as was insinuated.
“These petty traders at the
bottom of the economic ladder, with an inventory often less than N5,000, are
beneficiaries of the TraderMoni scheme which provides N10,000
collateral/interest-free loans to them, empowerment that improves their small
businesses, their families, while also contributing significantly to the
economy.
“Thirdly, in what is certainly a
curious comment, the former President has also been quoted as describing the
TraderMoni scheme as idiotic. To label such people-friendly scheme as idiotic
is not only an absurdity, it is also an affront to the sensibilities of these
hard working Nigerians, the beneficiaries of the micro-credit scheme.
“For emphasis, the Bank of
Industry implements the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, GEEP,
one part of our Social Investment Programme. Enumeration Agents have been
engaged to visit the markets and other points where petty traders are found to
confirm that they are traders and also take their biometric information for
recording purposes. After the enumeration, the N10,000 collateral free loans
are then disbursed electronically through the petty traders’ phones.
“TraderMoni is designed to meet
the needs of the larger population of petty traders at the bottom of the
pyramid who do not meet the more stringent criteria of BVN, bank accounts,
market associations, cooperatives, required for bigger Market Moni loans.
“Under GEEP – which has
MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and TraderMoni, at least 1.5 million Nigerians are
already beneficiaries of the three-pronged approach of GEEP, while N-Power has
created jobs for 500,000 young Nigerians graduates, besides non-graduates.
Also, almost 300,000 Nigerians have benefitted from the Conditional Cash
Transfer (CCT), which is given to the poorest and most vulnerable among us, and
over 9.2 million school pupils are being fed a free meal daily in 26 states
under the Home Grown School Feeding Programme.
“It bears repetition that higher
economic growth potentials are associated with lower income inequality. This
makes a most overwhelming case for welfare payments like the social investment
schemes like the TraderMoni/MarketMoni schemes. Such a micro-credit scheme
provides a higher rate of inclusion into the financial bracket and is crucial
in lifting hardworking people out of poverty as has been the case in other
countries like India and Brazil.
“Fourthly, the former president
also rehashed discredited claims suggesting that TraderMoni beneficiaries were
required to tender their PVCs, and questioned the timing of the implementation.
“Let me, therefore, state again
that beneficiaries of TraderMoni are not required to show their Personal Voters
Cards (PVCs) or any document indicating their political affiliations to qualify
for the loans. This is why the enumeration is done in the open markets and
wherever the traders ply their trade. This issue has been addressed several
times by the Presidency in the public space. Therefore the former president’s
alleged comments smirk of outright mischief as it regurgitates blatant
falsehood.
“Equally, if the former president
had conducted a simple act of diligence, he would have found that the National
Assembly had approved this programmes and budgeted for them duly.
“When President Muhammadu Buhari
came into office, one of the major hinges of this administration was to uplift
the common man out of poverty and ensure the welfare of ordinary Nigerians.
TraderMoni is one of such schemes conceived in 2016 under the Social Investment
Programme of this administration.
“Being a former president, Chief
Obasanjo ordinarily should appreciate the impact of such far-reaching social
investment schemes, which has provided what is now the largest social safety
net for millions of Nigerians and is unprecedented in the nation’s history.
“Again, the former president’s
attack on TraderMoni and the person of the Vice President is an indicator that
he may be wittingly or unwittingly playing to the sinister script of the
opposition party to spread falsehood and attack the social investment programmes
of the Buhari administration, which champions such impactful schemes, and which
is now attracting the praise and commendation of Nigerians everywhere.
“It is pertinent to state that
the false allegations against TraderMoni raised again by the former president
is sadly a rehash of baseless claims previously made by leading chieftains of
the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, whose record of profligacy, corruption
and mismanagement clearly show it has no agenda to uplift the common man or
improve the lives of Nigerians.
“Finally, attacks such as this on
a scheme that benefits the masses of our people is a direct attack on the
people and this kind of conduct does not reflect very well on a former
president but is only self-denigrating and of no public value. As is already
now obvious, the generality of the Nigerian people will not only reject that
attack but will also condemn its source. We, therefore, urge the former
president to be far more circumspect and more public-spirited in his utterances
going forward.”
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What is wrong if the President goes round to sensitize, create awareness and see to the implementation of TraderMoni?
ReplyDeleteEvery action and everything is politicized in Nigeria now