Federal Government is muting the idea of setting up another Peoples Bank. This time it is to boost Small and Medium Scale Enterprises(SMEs). Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said that the Federal Government will soon establish People Money and Entrepreneurship Banks. It will be recalled that The People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN), was set up in 1988 by the Banbagida administration. PBN in its first 15 months of operation, incurred a loss of N2.208 million with assets/liabilities of N245.790 million. In its 18 months of operation, October 1989 to March 1991, it had inadequate funds of N280 million with 8 zones and 175 branches throughout the country. Within this period, 140,000 people, 84,000 women and 56,000 men, benefitted from its loans — a number considered inadequate in the face of prevalent mass poverty in Nigeria. The cumulative loan disbursement as at March 1991 stood at N207 million while cumulative loan recovery within the same period was N178.363755 million (86%). Overdue loans stood at N28.6 million or 13.83% of total disbursement. The bank eventually failed and folded up.
But Vice President Osinbajo said while speaking with newsmen during a visit to Bodija and Oje markets in Ibadan to monitor the Trader Moni initiative that the government will set up People Money and Entrepreneurship Banks. The initiative is a Federal Government intervention programme for petty traders under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme(GEEP). “As part of efforts to institutionalise the social investment scheme process, this administration will soon establish the People Money Bank and along the line Entrepreneurship Bank,” he said. The vice president said the initiative was part of the APC agenda, adding that the People Money Bank would be devoted to giving credit to ordinary people.
Osinbajo said the Federal Government was committed to empowering traders toward improving the prospects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises(SMEs). He said that no fewer than one million traders had already benefitted from the ‘Trader Moni.’ “The first phase of the Trader Moni was targeted at two million petty traders across the country but over a million have today benefitted from the scheme. We have observed that nobody wants to give these traders credit because lenders believe they won’t pay back. The market traders represented the most significant percentage of those who engage in commercial activities.
