Trader Moni: Osinbajo Launches Interest-Free Loan Scheme In Cross River

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has launched the N10,000 collateral interest-free loan scheme, Trader Moni, in Cross River State.

Professor Osinbajo launched the microcredit scheme on Tuesday in Calabar amid a crowd of traders at Watt market in the state capital.

He flagged off the programme in company with the state governor, Professor Ben Ayade, and top government officials.

The Trader Moni scheme began in 2016 and is part of the Social Investment Programme of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

It was launched in Cross River after it had already kicked off in Lagos, Kano, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Osun and Kogi, as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

The Presidency had faulted claims that beneficiaries must possess a Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to be eligible for the programme.

“The petty traders are not required to show PVC or any document for that matter,” Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, had said in a statement.

“They are only expected to show they are petty traders, and this is why the enumeration is done in the markets and wherever the traders ply their trades.”

During his visit to Cross River, Professor Yemi Osinbajo held a closed-door meeting with the Christian community in the state.

He told reporters after the meeting that the Federal Government was doing its best to tackle the security challenges facing the nation.

The vice president believes that if the problem of land ownership and management is solved, there will be relative peace and stability in states experiencing security challenges.

He assured Nigerians that the government would continue to provide the needed support towards sustaining the relationship between farmers and herdsmen in the country.