Thread by @Morris_Monye

1. Let me tell you how Bangladesh tackled poverty in the 80s.

They were a very poor country (still poor anyways but far worse back then)

An economist Prof. Muhammadu Yunus formed the Grameen Bank which was a way of trying to save the poor by giving them $1 loan.

This was 1983

2. The bank gave $1 loans without collateral.

I mean the poor themselves don't have any collateral to even start with

You pay back, you get more and more etc

$1 might seem small but the height of poverty for rural dwellers made it seem alot

Now the people had integrity

3. Repayment rate was between 97-100%. This meant almost everyone paid back their loans and got more and more.

The bank singlehandedly lifted over 7 million Bangladeshi from poverty with that scheme.

The bank is now worth $6Bn

4. The bank's success story got Prof. Muhammadu Yunus the 2006 Nobel Peace prize

Now IBB and President Buhari tried to replicate this with People's Bank of Nigeria and TraderMoni respectively.

I will start with the failures of People's Bank of Nigeria.

5. IBB so inspired by Prof. Yunus created People's Bank October 1989.

He situated the bank in Ajegunle (the poorest of the poor area in Lagos back then) and appointed social critic and the people's man, Tai Solarin as Chairman of the bank.

6. IBB flew down to Ajegunle to personally give beneficiaries cash from N35 to N1,500 (which was a lot of money back then)

I AM COMING LET ME SHOWER, EAT AND GO TO CHURCH.

LATER 🤭

7. I HAVE RETURNED ☺️

Among the beneficiaries were tailors, food sellers and artisans.

Within the first few weeks, the bank opened branches in eight states.

It's M.D, Mrs Maris Sokenu said 250 branches were opened nationwide.

A success story right?

There were problems.

8.

A. Members of the bank's implementation taskforce fought over loans.

B. Massive corruption where loans were given to family members of its management (which were never paid back)

C. Loans given to people outside the targeted audience e.g Transport owners, 1st Lady NGO

9. After N130m+ spent and nothing to show for it, the Abacha govt scrapped the bank.

Why did it fail really apart from the reasons stated.

A. It was a borrowed idea not tailored for the Nigerian people. The value of $1 in Bangladesh is not the same in Nigeria

B. Grameen Bank..

10. Was a totally private initiative.

I believe anything the Nigerian govt touches never ever gets profitable. From Nigerian Airways, to NNPC etc. It never gets profitable.

Also no bureaucratic nonsense held Grameen Bank down.

11. People's Bank of Nigeria had the potential to set the people free from poverty if it had been well-managed independent from govt and if its policies were tailored for Nigerians.

Now TraderMoni...