Date: 2018-12-04

The Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned the federal government against politicising the social investment programme, TraderMoni scheme, in the country.

The party said: "the Tradermoni scheme is a programme for all Nigerians and not just for the APC alone, hence all other Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations, must be included in the programme."

This came just as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is due in Ilorin this week to launch TraderMoni programme in the state for market women.

This was contained in a statement issued by the state PDP yesterday and signed by its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tunde Ashaolu.

The statement demanded explanation on the criteria being used for the selection of the beneficiaries for the programme.

The statement also demanded transparency and due process in the selection of all beneficiary traders and artisans irrespective of where they belong

The statememt added: "We however call on Osinbajo and his team to ensure that the scheme is devoid of political influences, even though we strongly believe the programme is a vote-buying gimmick by the APC-led government ahead of the 2019 general election."

The party recalled that the scheme was launched in 2015, and in the past three years, the vice-president did not visit any state for TraderMoni, but few months to the general election, he has been going round markets in different states of the country to distribute money to traders and artisans.

The PDP maintained that "we want to believe this is not a ploy by the APC to induce them ahead of the elections.

"Nevertheless, the Kwara PDP warns against the partisanship of the initiative, and advises that there should be no discrimination in the selection of beneficiaries in the state.

"The vice-president and his team must ensure that beneficiaries are selected without recourse to political affiliations. Since this is a government scheme and not a party affair, beneficiaries must cut across political divides.

"We demand that criteria for selection be made transparent and strictly adhered to, while all beneficiary traders and artisans must follow the normal procedure irrespective of where they belong."