Political Affiliation Not Condition for TraderMoni Loan, Says BoI

Political Affiliation Not Condition for TraderMoni Loan, Says BoI

Jonathan Eze

The Bank of Industry (BoI) has debunked reports that political affiliation and Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) are required to access TradeMoni loan, one of its initiatives designed to initiative by Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs).

The bank saturday debunked the reports circulating on the social media, describing the TraderMoni programme as a political tool of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari to gain advantage in 2019.

According to the bank, the only requirement to be a TraderMoni beneficiary is simply a Nigerian and a petty trader. As a programme, we have never, and will never, enquire about the political affiliations of a trader.

The bank said: “A paper form, or “PVC check,” is not part of the registration process. We enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to please join us at these activation events, or just visit any of the major trade clusters in your state to see the TraderMoni programme in action.

“We are also open to feedback on how to continually scale and strengthen TraderMoni’s impact, our number-1 goal. Please do not hesitate to email us ontradermoni@geep.ng”, the bank added.

The TraderMoni was conceived in 2016 as part of the 2-year-old Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), a social intervention scheme of the Federal Government, being executed by the Bank of Industry.

The GEEP has been providing interest-free loans to traders and artisans across all 36 States of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since May 17, 2016.

The bank explained that the GEEP programme, by design, comprises three products: “GEEP MarketMoni started in May 2016. Over 350,000 loans have been granted till date. These are loans of N50,000 and N100,000 for structured traders and artisans through their market associations and cooperatives.

“GEEP FarmerMoni commenced in May 2017. At least, 5,000 loans have granted under the scheme. These are larger loans of N300,000 each, for structured farmers through their farming cooperatives. BVN and bank accounts are required.

“GEEP TraderMoni commenced May 2018: these are loans starting at N10,000, for petty traders for whom MarketMoni and FarmerMoni are too large, and for whom the bank account and BVN requirements have been barriers. Paying back the first loan guarantees automatic disbursement of N15,000, and subsequent loans of N20,000, N50,000, and N100,000.

Candidates are enumerated in their trade clusters by the over 4,000 TraderMoni agents nationwide. They are verified by the Bank of Industry, and loans are disbursed directly to their mobile wallets.”

The bank noted that the TraderMoni commenced in May 2018, the programme was first publicly “activated” on August 7, 2018 in five markets in Lagos State, with beneficiaries in Mushin, Ikotun, Agege, Ketu, and Abule Egba markets in the state.

Subsequently, there have been similar activations in seven States including, Kano (August 18), Abia (August 20), Akwa Ibom (August 21), Katsina (September 1), Osun (September 3), Abuja (September 6), and Kogi (September 8).

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