By ‘Dayo Peters
I was one of those who believed very strongly that TraderMoni was vote buying and this was so for obvious reasons. Firstly, the disbursement of funds to traders happened too close to the campaign for 2019 elections, even though the claim was that the senate approved the budget late.
Secondly, I thought it as a project of the Vice President’s to attract the masses, instead of truly being a social welfare programme. I also thought it would end after the elections.
Also, there were too many news but it obviously now seems like most of them were fake ones surrounding TraderMoni, including the fact that cash was disbursed to traders directly, but since the institutionalization of the NSIP was announced on Independent Day, I must further admit that many, including myself, were wrong about the intentions for the social welfare programmes.
My change of heart which came after more thorough investigation (if I may say so myself) has spurred me to submit this piece aimed at enlightening others, just as I have found enlightenment in regards to the SIPs.
The Federal Government of Nigeria established the National Social Investments Programmes (NSIP) in 2016, to tackle poverty and hunger across the country. The primary aim of the programmes under the scheme is to provide and distribute resources to the class of the nation’s vulnerable population at the very bottom of the economic chain; these include children, youth and women.
TraderMoni is one of the various National Social Investment Programmes, belonging to the family ‘Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme’ (GEEP) alongside MarketMoni and FarmerMoni. GEEP is a micro-lending intervention that targets traders, artisans, enterprising youth, farmers and women in particular, by providing loans between 10,000 and 100,000 at no monthly cost to beneficiaries.
Since inception, these programmes combined and supervised by the Office of the Vice President, have supported more than 4 million beneficiaries nationwide through a completely transparent process supported by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning (MBNP) and other notable MDAs with aligned goals.
Read more: https://www.chronicle.ng/2019/10/tradermoni-is-not-vote-buying-afterall/