Fears as scammers take over Trader Moni registration in Kano

By Ibrahim Musa Giginyu, Richard P. Ngbokai & Sadika Abdulkadir

Some young scammers in Kano metropolis have converted the ongoing TraderMoni registration exercise into a source of extorting money from potential beneficiaries of the scheme, Kano Chronicle can report.
The programme is a federal government initiative designed with a view to enlarging the citizen financial inclusion agenda for Nigerians who are petty traders regardless of their social class or political affiliation.
It was gathered that persons who were perceived to be conversant with the process are allegedly taking advantage of the poor public to extort money from them in the pretext of helping them access their share of the federal government money.
Some of the residents who spoke to our reporters expressed their worries about the authenticity of the exercise with some saying since commencement of the registration in the state, they have not seen anybody that has benefitted from the exercise.
They alleged that the exercise is being not regulated by any specific government agency in the state, hence the prospective beneficiaries are left with no option than to roam from one registration agent to another, who have turned the well-intended exercise into a money making venture at the detriment of the poor masses.
Kano Chronicle learnt that the self-acclaimed agents charge between N200 to N1500 as registration fees even before accessing the cash by the beneficiaries.
Ibrahim Sadiq, one of the victims, who spoke to our reporters said he registered three times in different places through different processes, adding that there was the one he registered using a form he bought at N200 and he had also registered through an agent that collected N500.
“Initially, the whole thing seems to be so real to me but I became skeptical when I was told that, one can apply as many times as possible. I have registered using a form I bought at N200, I also registered through an agent that collected N500 as a registration fee and I was introduced by a friend to register using some codes through my mobile phone. But up till this moment I have not received a penny and I have not seen single person that actually collected the money,” Sadiq said.
Another victim of the scam, Malama Sadiya Abubakar of Kawo quarters in Nassarwa local government, explained how she did her registration.
She said, “I heard about the scheme from a family member, that the federal government was sharing the sum of N10, 000 to the Nigerian youths through a code. I was told that one will send the code and it’s free with all networks across Nigeria. When you dial the code a popup menu will appear asking you of your details including full name, address before you finally input a four digit password to personalize the process.
“After a while, the coordinators will send you a message that the registration was successful. At first I tried it for about four times before it went through and sometimes when I’m almost get to the final stage they terminate the process saying there was an error.
“I’ve not really seen anyone who received the cash, but I’ve heard that they will first have to screen the people before they send the money and the money is sent to beneficiaries’ mobile phone in form of recharge card from where they would send it to their personal bank accounts.”
According to Isa Umar Olala, the story that government was sharing Abacha’s loot had gone viral and registration of possible beneficiaries had commenced in every ward with people paying some token to get registered.
Olala added that the authenticity of the whole process was not yet known.
Two million petty traders are targeted to benefit from the loan in all the states of the federation. It was gathered that Bank of Industry, which is deploying the new scheme to identify the beneficiaries after their registration, has engaged about 4, 000 enumerators for the exercise.

Source
Daily Trust