Date: 2019-08-03

Governor AbdulRahmam AbdulRazaq of Kwara says his government is understudying the TraderMoni scheme of the Federal Government, with a view to replicating it to fight poverty in the state.

A statement by the Governor's Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, in Ilorin on Friday, revealed that the governor said this when he visited the headquarters of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme in Abuja.

Ajakaye said the governor would use the platform to extend soft loans to traders and reduce mass poverty in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that GEEP was being supervised by the Bank of Industry and one of the four sub-programmes of the National Social Investment Office.

The governor's aide said the visit was for AbdulRazaq to discuss partnership with GEEP operators on how Kwarans can further access the micro loans and lift thousands of people out of poverty.

The CPS said the governor was accompanied by Mrs Maryam Uwais, former Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments.

According to him, the governor listened to details of the initiative, including the challenge of implementing it in Kwara.

"After learning the back-end processes involved, we are looking at the possibility of starting the Kwara version of TraderMoni later this year after appropriate legislation and budgetary provisions," Ajakaye quoted AbdulRazaq as saying. (NAN)