Osinbajo meets beneficiaries of MarketMoni scheme in Kano

The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, will meet a section of the more than 11,000 beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), through the MarketMoni initiative, in Kano State, today.

The meeting, which is part of activities lined up for his official visit to the state, will also serve as an opportunity to assess the impact of the scheme. MarketMoni is a Federal Government Social Intervention Programme (SIP) that provides loans of up to N300,000 to segments of society with the greatest difficulty in accessing credit.

The scheme is executed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and it directly impacts traders, market women, artisans, and farmers in all 36 states of the country, and the Federal Capital Territory.

Executive Director, BOI, Toyin Adeniji, said the programme is aimed at reinvigorating the economy at the base of the pyramid, which is the hotbed of Nigeria’s financially vulnerable.

“GEEP MarketMoni is unprecedented in Nigeria’s history, granting interest-free credit facilities to existing microenterprises of market women and traders, artisans, enterprising youth and agricultural workers. It is critical to the Federal Government’s objective of inclusive growth,” Adeniji said.

Also, the Group Head, Microenterprise, BOI, Uloma Ike, said about 11,861 people have benefited from the GEEP MarketMoni loan scheme and over 583 million naira has been disbursed so far in Kano State alone.

“The beneficiaries and representatives of various market associations whose members have received loans will be able to interact with the Vice President, talk about the scheme and the impact of the loans on their businesses.

“It will also be an opportunity for the Vice President to experience first-hand, the impact of the programme which today has touched the lives of thousands of beneficiaries nationwide”, Ike said.

“We are looking forward to a robust discussion with the Vice President at the upcoming MSME clinic in Kano. At the event, attending beneficiaries will receive their disbursement certificates,” she added.

Beside the Vice President, other dignitaries expected at the Kano event include the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, and Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programmes, Maryam Uwais.