Over 28,000 receive TraderMoni in first level, 4000 receive MarketMoni
The Emir of Keffi, Nasarawa State, Dr Shehu Yamusa told Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday that the people of Nasarawa love him very dearly.
The Vice President was in Nasarawa to assess the impact of TraderMoni and MarketMoni as well as engage in Family Chats with residents of the state.
He was accompanied by Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule. At the palace of the Emir, the Vice President was received to a rapturous welcome.
He explained that the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) was designed to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
He added that Tradermoni is President Buhari’s way of providing interest-free credit to petty traders across the country.
“Your Royal Highness, I’m extremely honoured, I thank you very much for the warm welcome. And also I bring you very warm greetings from our President, Muhammadu Buhari who is also excited that we are launching the TraderMoni here in Nasarawa state today especially Keffi.
“One of the other things that I think you might be happy to hear is the President’s determination on this question of education, on June 20th while speaking to the government, when we inaugurated the National Economic Council, he made the point that the Federal Government will enforce along with the state governments the law of free and compulsory education for the first nine years of a child.
“It is a very important thing because we all know education is the key to economic success, it is the key to self realization and is the key that enables a person to live a dignified life.
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“So we are extremely concerned on how to improve education, technical education in particular is very important. As a matter of fact, under our N-Power scheme, we already have several technical education programmes going on. We have what we call N-build, which is technical education for persons involved in the building industry, bricklayers and different skills associated with building.
Responding to the Vice President, the Emir said the people of Keffi were grateful for the empowerment programme and that they love the VP.
“Let us appreciate you and welcome you to Keffi for the second time. The first time you came it was for the Keffi Polo Ranch Open Tournament in support of education. This time around you are coming to empower our people, our community and the State in general.
“This shows how you have interest in us particularly as you are doing the religious duty of help, because we are your immediate neighbours and the holy books of the Quran and Bible say you should be kind to your neighbours. We appreciate you for coming to empower us.
“Your Excellency let me use this opportunity to protest for the review of our primary and secondary school education system. We need technical and vocational training.
“This will reduce unemployment because our children will be trained on how to be self-sufficient.
“Mr Vice President you are welcome to Keffi and we wish you a safe journey back. Keffi is very historic, it is a historical ancient city where the resistance of the indirect rule started as far back as 1940, we need self-sufficiency and you are here to support us and you are welcome. We love you the way you love us, you are welcome.
Speaking after the Emir, Governor Sule said he would like to inform the Vice President about the agricultural heritage that is in Nasarawa state.
“In the next few days we are going to commission an incubation sector. We have different technical discipline that will be training our people in the areas of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, welding, fabrication, air conditioning, radio and television repairs, motor mechanic repairs, etc. Over 28,000 petty traders have received TraderMoni in the first level of N10,000 loans and over 4000 received MarketMoni. Traders who have paid back the N10,000 interest-free loan have begun collecting N15,000.
