By Oluwatosin Maliki
The administration of President Bola Tinubu has announced its plans to restart the TraderMoni scheme in November, with each beneficiary getting the sum of N50,000 to support their business.
It was gathered that the scheme had been in existence for traders in 2018 and has been on hold for some time.
According to Mrs. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, she said that the federal government is set to relaunch it.
The minister confirmed that the scheme has not been scrapped, she said, “Now, for the first set, which we are starting in November, we are selecting one big market per senatorial district. That is 109 markets and we are going into the markets, capturing the traders in their shops in the markets”.
She expressed that unlike the N10,000 fund given to traders in the earlier phases, this time there is more money for all the beneficiaries.
“It’s N50,000 to support their businesses”.
The minister noted, “We are not interested in party lines, or any social or personal interest. We capture them in the market and then after doing so, we create a bank account just as they are being captured, and the monies are sent directly from the CBN account”.
Meanwhile, she further explained that the scheme is a one-off interest-free loan with those who repay would be eligible for another loan.
Betta dismissed claims that the initiative is a political tool, she expressed that the elections are over, expressing that the present government is committed to making Nigerians smile.
She stated, “Well, we don’t have elections right now. As we are starting, the Renewed Hope GEEP programme, we don’t have elections, we have Nigerians. Politics is over. We are facing governance. That’s what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is all about”.
Betta added, “Now, for the first set which we are starting in November, we are selecting one big market per senatorial district. That is 109 markets.”
Furthermore, she said that the conditional cash transfer policy of the government is set to return later in the month.
She added, noting that the government is cleaning up the social register for effectiveness,“With the approval from the President which we hope to get this week, on the 17th of October, we will be officially launching the conditional cash transfer to 15m households in Nigeria”.