THISDAY

FG Corrupting Osun Voters with 10,000 Trader Moni Loan, Says Ezekwesili

- Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Just days after the inaugurati­on of Trader Moni venture, a federal government empowermen­t scheme in Osun State, a former Minister of Education and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG), Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has condemned the scheme by accusing the government of deliberate­ly corrupting the elections in Osun with the launch of the programme three weeks before its scheduled governorsh­ip elections in the state.

Ezekwesili berated the timing of the launch in Osun. Reacting to the launch of the programme, Ezekwesili via her Twitter handle stated that “The federal government either failed to be ethically circumspec­t or in fact deliberate­ly decided to corrupt the elections in Osun by handing out cash to traders just before the state elections. Such behaviour after the grand corrupting of voters in Ekiti is reprehensi­ble.”

The Trader Moni, a Government Enterprise and Empowermen­t Programme (GEEP) scheme, according to informatio­n from the programme’s Twitter handle, is “to help alleviate poverty in Nigeria by empowering traders and artisans.” An online portal had reported that for traders to access the N10, 000 loans, they had to provide evidence of having registered for the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The federal government budgeted N300, 000,000 to “empower” traders in Osun, and the loan is expected to be repaid within six months, after which the traders can access higher amounts. In a widely publicised event, VicePresid­ent Yemi Osinbajo, on September 3, 2018, had launched the programme, which targeted 30,000 traders in Osun. The federal government had also launched the scheme in Abuja Thursday.

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