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Mike Daramola, a trader who deals in soaps and detergents at Sabo market, Ikorodu, Lagos, knew that the sum of N10,000, which the Federal Government was giving out in the first phase of the TraderMoni scheme, would not do much to boost his business; still, he had so much expectations and hope in the programme.
TraderMoni, a collateral-free loan targeted at petty traders and artisans, is part of the National Social Investment Programme, under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, through which the Federal Government says it intends to bridge the credit gap and empower Nigerians at the grassroots.
Beneficiaries of TraderMoni, which is being coordinated by the Bank of Industry and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, a unit in the Office of the Vice President, have six months to repay the loan with flexible options of N85 daily or N430 weekly.
The beneficiaries, who receive an initial loan of N10,000, will qualify to obtain further loans of N15,000, N20,000 and N50,000, if they don’t default in repaying the facility.
Daramola’s intention was to put in his best in order to meet up with the repayment schedule, so as to qualify to obtain the maximum loan amount, which he believes would significantly boost his small scale business.
A graduate of Food Science from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Daramola had ventured into petty trading, after quitting his previous job. According to him, he left the job due to the ‘very poor pay’ that was not commensurate with the long hours he had to put in.
But Daramola’s high hopes in TraderMoni crashed, when, on qualifying to receive the initial N10,000 loan, he only got the sum of N8,000 – N2,000 less than the amount promised by the Federal Government. Disappointed, and worried about how he would still be expected to repay N10,000, according to the requirements of the scheme, Daramola took to the social media to voice his complaints.
In a post on his Twitter handle, @DaramolaMike22, he wrote, “So I received the #TraderMoni by #FG today, but to my surprise, the officials gave out N8,000 instead of N10,000 which means they deducted N2,000 each from everyone who got the money. How do we make Nigeria work with such acts? @DrJoeAbah, @ProfOsinbajo, @segalink, @feladurotoye.”
Daramola was not the only one to be short-changed in the TraderMoni scheme, as discovered in further investigations by our correspondent. Many other beneficiaries, all petty traders, had N2,000 deducted from the ‘loan’ extended to them by the Federal Government.
Our correspondent discovered that the ‘deductions’ were rampant among the beneficiaries in Sabo market, Ikorodu, where Daromola has his soap and detergent shop. He could not hide his disappointment in the TraderMoni scheme when our correspondent spoke with him at the market on Wednesday.
Read Full Story: [Punch]
