Market women, traders and artisans in Lagos State on Tuesday, November 13, smiled to the bank as the Federal Government of Nigeria activated the TraderMoni scheme in Obalende, Makoko and Oyingbo areas of the state.
TraderMoni is a Federal Government initiative which is aimed at providing two million petty traders across the country with collateral-free loans before the end of the year .
The scheme was activated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who inspected Obalende, Makoko, Obalende markets.
The Vice President had on Monday, 12th November activated the scheme in Igando, Ikotun and Ile Epo markets.
In the TraderMoni initiative, beneficiaries can get access to a higher facility ranging from N15, 000 to N50, 000 when they repaid N10,000 within the stipulated time period.
Speaking on the success of the initiative, Mrs. Toyin Adeniji, Executive Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), while fielding questions from journalists said the initiative has been a tremendous success as over 1 million Nigerians have been registered for the scheme.
The Bank of Industry is in partnership with the Federal Government to provide the collateral free loans.
The BOI boss also said that the process in which traders are being enrolled into the scheme was transparent.
Ms Papson Sharon, one of the enumerator (registering agent) who spoke on the initiative said traders were happy with the initiative as many of them immediately after receiving the money went to restock their trading goods.
She however said there was reluctance on the part of the traders initially but things changed immediately traders who embraced the initiative from the outset started receiving credit alerts from their banks.
Meanwhile, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Wosila Popoola, who sells ‘ponmo’ at Obalende market, praised the federal government for having the poor in mind. The trader who confirmed that she has received the money urged the FG to keep the scheme.
Another beneficiary, Sakirudeen Olaniyi, who also confirmed that he has been credited with N10,000 said it never crossed his mind that a government could embark on such people centered scheme. He said the money might be small to some people but it is a boost to his business.
Olaniyi who is a meat seller also said he will be paying back the loan in other to scale up his chances of obtaining higher loans for his business.
