FG Tradermoni: ‘Beneficiaries not traders’

The National Association of Nigerian Traders, NANTS has said the beneficiaries of Tradermoni are not traders.

They decried its neglect by the federal government, on the TradeMoni loan initiative, saying they were not consulted in the disbursement of the money.

 

The Chairman, NANTS, FCT chapter, Prince Edozie Ugwu, who stated this at the Tradermoni loan disbursement exercise to traders in Wuse market, Abuja noted that most of the beneficiaries are not members of the association.

He said, “The Trademoni scheme is good but the government needs to do better in terms of coordination because a lot of traders are complaining about the way and manner the money is being disbursed, they are not doing it with the market leaders and this is creating gap,  most of the people benefiting from the interest- free loan are not traders.

“Market leaders especially the chairpersons of each market should be carried along since this is a loan that is expected to be paid back, the leaders should be involved. But if you give it to anybody and you expect the person to pay back, it will be difficult to recover the loan

“They need to partner with the market leaders in the disbursement of the money for easy recovery in due time,” Agwu added.

Also speaking, the Chief Taskforce, National Association of Nigeria Trades, and the supervisor of Wuse market disbursement officer Mr. Sunday Chukwu also lamented that the process of disbursement was not properly handle by government officials.

 

According to him, “as leaders of the association we want to ensure that traders are the actual beneficiaries of the loan not just people who come because government is giving out money without any means of paying back.”

One of the beneficiaries of the scheme who gave his name as Saleh Ali said the fund would help grow yam business.

According to him, “I applied for the scheme because I believe in the federal government’s policy in growing small business.

“Many of my friends told me when I was applying that the money would not be disbursed to those who don’t have godfathers but something kept telling me that I will be given the loan.

“To my surprise, I got a text message this money that I should come and collect the money. I’m grateful to the government for this because it will help me buy yam to sale and make more money.”

It would be recalled that the TraderMoni was conceived in May 2016 as part of the two-year-old Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), a social intervention scheme of the federal government, being executed by the Bank of Industry.

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