Tradermoni, one of the most recent initiatives of the Federal Government geared towards tackling poverty in the land has been applauded by a professor of economics and founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi.
Utomi who spoke to The Nation in Lagos in an exclusive interview, stated that the initiative is a positive way of growing an economy like Nigeria that is struggling to survive, adding that majority of the poor masses would be lifted out of poverty should the initiative be sustained.
Besides, he said the conditional cash transfer initiative is a deliberate effort by government to stimulate the distressed economy, by putting money in the pockets of traders for them to spend their way out of poverty.
According to him, “I’m one of those who have been supportive of the idea of conditional cash transfer, tagged: ‘Tradermoni’ in the case of Nigeria. I’m a very big fan of the former Brazilian President who formulated this idea. I introduced this idea of conditional cash transfer on the APC roadmap to the Vice President before the general elections of 2015. In Brazil, this model is known as ‘Bosafamilia.’
“We must bear in mind that this initiative needs certain level of discipline if we want this effort to yield the desired result. The model succeeded in Brazil because of discipline attached in its implementation. I also believe that it will succeed in Nigeria, haven seen the way it is being driven by the office of the Vice President.
“The private sector in Brazil felt skeptical about the model when it was newly introduced, but the discipline in its implementation helped it to yield positive growth. This however turned out to yield sustained positive growth over a long period of years, which helped in lifting Brazil out of poverty.”
Utomi regretted that most Nigerians who are not charitable with the truth faulted the trademoni initiative by calling it an election ploy.
He expressed that people should applaud any positive move that is geared towards revitalizing the Nigerian economy, irrespective of whoever that introduced it.
“It is worrisome that foreign investors are looking elsewhere. Despite all that the government did to improve the ease of doing business, Nigeria is still at the bottom of the table. It is sad that Ghana whose economy is not as big as Ikeja economy attracted more foreign direct investment in 2018 than Nigeria,” he stressed. (The Nation)
