The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, has begun a market sensitisation ahead of the unveiling of the ‘Iyaloja Monie’, a Federal Government non-interest loan to be given to market women and petty traders across the country.
A statement on Sunday said residents of Ushafa community in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, and many other suburbs, played host to the minister as she engaged market women and petty traders ahead of the launch of the IYALOJA MONIE next month.
The programme has the target of reaching at least 1.5 million Nigerians nationwide, the statement said.
According to the statement, the loan, which has been newly christened, “The Iyaloja Market Fund,” is a non-interest loan of N50,000 which would be given to Phase 1 of market traders, selected from 109 markets across every senatorial zone in Nigeria.
Edu was quoted as saying that President Bola Tinubu meant well for the country and had promised to remove Nigerians from multi-dimensional poverty and humanitarian crises, “and he is matching words with action.”
Also, at a community engagement, attended by the community’s traditional rulers, youths, women, the aged, petty traders, and physically challenged persons, food and nonfood items were distributed to poor and vulnerable households as part of the minister’s birthday celebration, the statement said.
Edu explained that the food and non-food items presented to the people were in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu, which aims to reduce multi-dimensional poverty in Nigeria.
