Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo is relentless over his fight with the government of the day.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has reacted to the recent attack
ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo launched on the Trader Moni initiative by
the Buhari-led administration. Obasanjo in his explosive letter to
President Buhari released yesterday January 20th, said the Trader Moni
being championed by Osinbajo, has a sinister agenda.
Read Osinbajo’s response below
The statement purportedly attributed to former president Olusegun
Obasanjo regarding Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, and the Federal
Government’s TraderMoni microcredit scheme if, indeed true and accurate,
is most unfortunate, according to the Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media & Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande.While responding to media inquiries regarding the former president’s
comments over the weekend, Akande noted that “it is either that the
former leader is ignorant of the true workings of Trader Moni and the
role of the Vice President in its implementation or perhaps he is on a
mischievous mission.”According to Akande, the former President has demonstrated “a
surprising but complete misunderstanding of the workings of the
TraderMoni, that is if we assume there is no mischief intended. “Firstly, the Vice President does not personally distribute money
during his visits to the markets. He goes there to assess progress of
the implementation and to create awareness for a programme designed to
meet the financing need of 2 million petty traders across the country in
the first instance.Secondly, while one will not bother to further address the issue of
timing of the implementation since such issues are now known to be
political posturing, it is important to note that Trader Moni is being
actively implemented across all states of the federation and the FCT. It
is not only Lagos and Abuja as was insinuated.These petty traders at the bottom of the economic ladder, with an
inventory often less than N5,000, are beneficiaries of the Trader Moni
scheme which provides N10,000 collateral/interest-free loans to them, an
empowerment that improves their small businesses, their families while
also contributing significantly to the economy.Thirdly, in what is certainly a curious comment, the former President
has also been quoted as describing the TraderMoni scheme as idiotic. To
label such people-friendly scheme as idiotic, is not only a an
absurdity, it is also an affront to the sensibilities of these hard
working Nigerians, the beneficiaries of the micro credit scheme.For emphasis, the Bank of Industry implements the Government
Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, GEEP, one part of our Social
Investment Programme. Enumeration Agents have been engaged to visit the
markets and other points where petty traders are found to confirm that
they are traders and also take their biometric information for recording
purposes. After the enumeration the N10,000 collateral free loans are
then disbursed electronically through the petty traders’ phones.Trader Moni is designed to meet the need of the larger population of
petty traders at the bottom of the pyramid who do not meet the more
stringent criteria of BVN, bank accounts, market associations,
cooperatives, required for bigger Market Moni loans.Under GEEP – which has MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and TraderMoni, at
least 1.5 million Nigerians are already beneficiaries of the
three-pronged approach of GEEP, while N-Power has created jobs for
500,000 young Nigerians graduates, besides non-graduates. Also, almost
300,000 Nigerians have benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer
(CCT), which is given to the poorest and most vulnerable among us, and
over 9.2 million school pupils are being fed a free meal daily in 26
states under the Home Grown School Feeding Programme.It bears repetition that higher economic growth potentials are
associated with lower income inequality. This makes a most overwhelming
case for welfare payments like the social investment schemes like the
TraderMoni/MarketMoni schemes. Such a micro credit scheme provides a
higher rate of inclusion into the financial bracket and is crucial in
lifting hardworking people out of poverty as has been the case in other
countries like India and Brazil.Fourthly, the former president also rehashed discredited claims
suggesting that Trader Moni beneficiaries were required to tender their
PVCs, and questioned the timing of the implementation.Let me therefore state again that beneficiaries of TraderMoni are not
required to show their Personal Voters Cards (PVCs) or any document
indicating their political affiliations to qualify for the loans. This
is why the enumeration is done in the open markets and wherever the
traders ply their trade. This issue has been addressed several times by
the Presidency in the public space. Therefore the former president’s
alleged comments smirks of outright mischief as it regurgitates blatant
falsehood.Equally, if the former president had conducted a simple act of
diligence, he would have found that the National Assembly had approved
this programmes and budgeted for them duly.When President Muhammadu Buhari came into office, one of the major
hinges of this administration was to uplift the common man out of
poverty and ensure the welfare of ordinary Nigerians. TraderMoni is one
of such schemes conceived in 2016 under the Social Investment Programme
of this administration.Being a former president, Chief Obasanjo ordinarily should appreciate
the impact of such far reaching social investment schemes, which has
provided what is now the largest social safety net for millions of
Nigerians, and is unprecedented in the nation’s history.Again, the former president’s attack on TraderMoni and the person of
the Vice President is an indicator that he may be wittingly or
unwittingly playing to the sinister script of the opposition party to
spread falsehood and attack the social investment programmes of the
Buhari administration which champions such impactful schemes, and which
is now attracting the praise and commendation of Nigerians everywhere.It is pertinent to state that the false allegations against
TraderMoni raised again by the former president is sadly a rehash of
baseless claims previously made by leading chieftains of the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party, whose record of profligacy, corruption and
mismanagement clearly show it has no agenda to uplift the common man or
improve the lives of Nigerians.Finally, attacks such as this on a scheme that benefits the masses of
our people is a direct attack on the people and this kind of conduct
does not reflect very well on a former president, but is only
self-denigrating and of no public value. As is already now obvious, the
generality of the Nigerian people will not only reject that attack, but
will also condemn its source. We therefore urge the former president to
be far more circumspect and more public-spirited in his utterances going
forward.