The federal government on Monday selected Lagos, Kano and Abia states as pilots areas for its TraderMoni scheme.
Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity Laolu Akande, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on Monday in Abuja.
TraderMoni is a Federal Government’s initiative aimed at providing two million petty traders across the country with collateral-free loans before the end of the year.
Olaolu Akande said that the initiative was part of the National Social Investments Programmes (NSIP) of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
According to him, the programme will be carried out across the country.
He said that the gesture was part of Federal Government’s efforts to further enlarge its financial inclusion agenda for all Nigerians regardless of social class and economic status.
Akande said that the scheme, which was inaugurated in Lagos on August 7, would grant a minimum of 30,000 loans in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The presidency had announced a major policy under the NSIP to address the needs of petty traders who have not been captured in some the previous micro-credit schemes that we have.
“We started a scheme last week where petty traders will get N10,000 and when they repay it within six months, they get N15, 000.
“Between now and the end of the year, we would have reached at least two million of such petty traders across the country. The plan is to have a minimum of 30,000 beneficiaries in each of the states.
Akande added that the loans like most of the social investment programmes, would go directly to the beneficiaries as there would be no third parties involved.
