FG to Extend TraderMoni to Ekiti on Monday

• FG to Extend TraderMoni to Ekiti on Monday

The Federal Government has announced that it will extend its no-interest loan scheme, TraderMoni, to Ekiti State on Monday.

Reports quoted the Senior Special Assistant on Mobilisation to Ekiti State Governor, Mr Tunji Ogunlola, as stating this in Ado-Ekiti on Friday.

He lauded the initiative of the Federal Government on the scheme and gave the assurance that real traders would be captured.

The SSA said that the scheme was designed to help petty traders expand their trade through the provision of a collateral-free loan of N10, 000.

According to him, the Ekiti State Government has held several meetings with market trade unions to identify real traders and how best to ensure repayment of the loans.

He said there was the need to enlighten and educate the people on the benefits accruable to traders from the initiative.

Ogunlola said the state government was emphasising working directly with the market leaders since the loan must be repaid.

He said, “If the loan is given anyhow to people without proper identification, the repayment may not be guaranteed.

“The Federal Government’s idea is good. So, we are appealing to the traders to work with us because though we know them, they know themselves better and are closer to one another than to the government.”

The governor’s aide said it was not enough to capture people without shops, but also the repayment plan.

He assured the traders that the federal and state governments meant well for them.

“The basic is how to make their business grow for their benefit and for the development and betterment of Ekiti in general,” he said.

TraderMoni scheme is part of the socio-investment programmes of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the plan is to ensure that petty traders receive the first loan of N10,000 each.

Once they are able to repay that over a period of six months, they get another N15,000 loan and when they repay that, they get another N20,000 loan until they get as much as N50,000.

Ogunlola said the President wanted to ensure that traders at the bottom of the ladder – those whose ware and businesses were just about N3,000, N5,000 and so on were not left out.