Osinbajo Reacts To Obasanjo’s Comments On TraderMoni [FULL TEXT]

Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said that the statement by Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo on the Federal Government’s TraderMoni
microcredit scheme is either a clear sign of the former President’s
“ignorance or mischief”.

This is according to a statement by Mr. Laolu Akande, a senior
special aide to the Vice President on media and publicity.

Akande’s communique asserted 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.”

The rejoinder further said that Obasanjo has demonstrated “a
surprising but complete misunderstanding of the workings of
TraderMoni, that is if we assume there is no mischief
intended.”

The rejoinder also noted that “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”.

Below is the full statement as sent out by the Senior
Special Assistant-Media&Publicity to the Vice
President.

“Obasanjo’s attack on TraderMoni reflects either his ignorance
or mischief – Presidency

(Statement attributable to Laolu Akande)

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
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 the
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 TraderMoni 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
TraderMoni scheme which provides N10,000 collateral/interest-free
loans to them, 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 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.

TraderMoni is designed to meet the needs 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 TraderMoni 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 smirk 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.

January 21, 2019”