Prof Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, has said the Federal Government will provide micro-lending to about 2.5 million small businesses to the lowest income earners through the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
Osinbajo stated this at the weekend in Lagos during the Inclusive Business Policy Development Programme with the theme: African Policy Road Show: Building Robust Policies for Increased Social Investment and Inclusive Business.
Osinbajo said the beneficiaries would include traders, women cooperatives, market women, enterprising youths, farmers and agricultural workers.
The package, which would be managed by the Bank of Industry (BoI), he said, was in partnership with over 20 private sector and donor partners at local and international levels.
They include the World Bank, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and Department for International Development (DFID), ActionAid and Accenture.
Others are: Dangote Group, Lagos Business School, the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Economic Research Institute, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) among others.
The event was organised by the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance and the Inclusive Business Action Network (IBAN).
Osinbajo, who was represented by the Special Adviser (SA) to the President on Economic Matters, Dipolu Adeyemi, explained that interested persons in Marketmoni or Farmermoni could apply online as well as through the BoI, the state focal person, the state ministries of trade, commerce, agriculture or women affairs.
The vice president said the tenor of the loan ranging from N10, 000 to N350, 000 was six months, which he said may be extended for Farmermoni, depending on the nature of the farm produce or product.
According to him, successful applicants must be paid directly, while membership in a cooperative or association is mandatory, and the leadership of the cooperatives must ensure credibility and timely payment.
“There is no collateral interest element. The conditions for applying for Marketmoni and Farmermoni loans are the setting up of a cooperative (as a pressure group) or belonging to a cluster with an off-taker, the opening of an account and the acquisition of Bank Verification Number (BVN),” he said.
Osinbajo said and administrative fee of between 2.5 per cent and five per cent would be paid to the aggregators and agents who recruited to recover the loans from successful applicants.