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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is set to launch the Federal Goverment’s TraderMoni scheme in Lagos today.
A statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande, said the scheme which has already kicked off in about 33 states and the FCT, will be launched today in Ketu, Bariga and Oshodi markets in Lagos.
Under the scheme, petty traders get collateral and interest-free loans of N10,000. Akande said in his statement that over 800,000 petty traders have benefitted nationwide.
“While there are so far over 809,000 beneficiaries of TraderMoni, over 1.1 million Nigerians – market women, traders, artisans, farmers – are currently beneficiaries of GEEP, which comprises FarmerMoni, MarketMoni and TraderMoni,” he said.
GEEP, a micro-credit scheme, stands for “Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme”. It was dormally launched on August 7 in five markets in Lagos – Mushin, Ikotun, Agege, Ketu and Abuke Egba areas.
He explained that “FarmerMoni loans start at N300,000 and are for farmers in farming clusters, via farm aggregators, while MarketMoni is a 6-month interest-free credit of between N50,000 and N300,000 for small businesses – medium-scale traders, market women, artisans, and youth in market associations – under the auspices of their cooperative societies.”
According to the government, beneficiaries under the scheme can get access to a higher facility ranging from N15,000 to N100,000 when they repay N10,000 within the stipulated time period.
TraderMoni, which is part of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (N-SIP), is designed to assist petty traders across the country expand their trade through the provision of collateral and interest-free loans from N10,000. The loans are repayable over a period of six months.
The government said it is expected to reach 2 million petty traders by the end of the year.