No fewer than 100 million Nigerians will be taken out of the problem of poverty in the country in the next ten years.
The vow was made by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday.
The vice president, according to his media aide, Mr. Laolu Akande, in a statement, made the vow when he visited the Emir of Gwandu in Kebbi State, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar.
The vice president however said the success of the task would only be possible with the support of the state government.
Said Osinbajo: “The President has promised that by the grace of God, we are going to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
“I believe very strongly that we are going to achieve that, but we can only achieve it with the able support of the state governments.’’
Osinbajo who said among other things, he was in the state inaugurate the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) explained some of the programmes put in place to drive away poverty, especially as it affects petty traders.
“One of the very important schemes is what is called the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, which has the TraderMoni and MarketMoni.
“TraderMoni is the scheme where we give petty traders N10,000, and when they pay back, N15,000, then N20,000 and it goes on and on to N100,000.
“The president’s desire for this programme is that every hard-working citizens of this country should be able to have some support from government, no matter how little their inventory.
“Today, at the market, I passed a woman who was selling vegetables and I asked her how much her whole inventory was, the whole thing was N500; it is for such people, such petty traders, that the TraderMoni N10,000 is meant, so that they can buy more,” Osinbajo said.
