FG Using ‘Trader Moni Venture’ To Corrupt Osun Voters – Ezekwesili
BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – Former minister of Education and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) Movement, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of “deliberately corrupting the elections process in the country.
Ezekwesili specifically said that the scheduled governorship election in Osun State expected to take place in less than three weeks has been seriously compromised and corrupted with the launching of the “Trader Moni venture” by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
At the launching of the venture on September 3, 2018, Vice President Osinbajo said the programme is targeted at 30,000 traders in Osun.
Information pieced together from the programme’s Twitter handle, the Trader Moni is a Federal Government empowerment scheme initiated to help alleviate poverty in the country by empowering traders, artisans and other low income earners.
The Federal Government budgeted N300 million for the empowerment of traders in Osun in form of soft loan that is expected to be repaid within six months,
Traders are to first access an interest free loan of N10,000 loan after providing evidence of having registered for the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The continuation of the programme and further granting of the loan would depend on the quick repayment by the beneficiaries which would qualify them for higher amounts.
But taking a critical look at the mode and timing of the programme, Ezekwesili criticized the timing of the launch in Osun, stressing that such an approach of grand corrupting of voters in Ekiti is reprehensible and unacceptable.
