Tradermoni Micro-Credit scheme and poverty reduction in Nigeria

An examination of the tradermoni micro credit scheme becomes necessary considering the high rate of poverty in Nigeria. The conceptualization of the scheme is innovative and assuring. It provides a system that will ensure financial inclusion at the lowest level of the economy with a mechanism to encourage repayment. Unlike similar scheme in the past, beneficiaries can access a higher credit facility upon repayment of previous loan. This is to encourage refund and productivity. The bottlenecks and hassles depriving many low income earners access to credit facilities are removed in this scheme. However, implementation of policies in Nigeria has always been a big challenge in the country. The tradermoni micro scheme is embroiled in controversies arising from the motive behind the scheme and the timing for the commencement of the scheme. The capacity of beneficiaries to payback is not properly verified. The scheme is likely to go the way of similar programmes in the past as it is fraught with not clearly known institution and structure, fraud, cronyism and politicization. More so, the scheme is challenged considering the size of its loan envelope, poor profiling of beneficiaries and so on to ensure that the target population are actual beneficiaries. Government economic policies must change and encourage investment and survival of micro businesses because micro-credit alone cannot lift people out of poverty.