President Muhammadu Buhari has warned his Vice Prof Yemi Osinbajo against taking unnecessary risks as he travels across the nation distributing TraderMoni.

Buhari noted that he watched as “hefty women” often rushed his VP during the distribution of the loans, saying he feared Osinbajo could be mobbed.

TraderMoni is one of the Buhari administration’s Social Intervention Programmes under the supervision of the VP’s office.

Buhari stated this when he hosted Osinbajo, members of the Federal Executive Council, security chiefs and heads of Federal Government Agencies to the breaking of fast at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari said,

“This `market money’, I warned the Vice-President, I don’t like him to be mobbed, especially the way I see hefty women coming and confronting him, he should be very careful.

“These are very good initiatives. Initially, I was quite reluctant but I must admit that they are very good programmes and they endear this government to a lot of poor people because of this N5,000 or N10,000 being given to them as loans.

“They are fantastic programmes and I have to admit quite honestly that the Vice-President was ahead of me by insisting on them.

“But, he knows me, if he insists I will say `okay go and do what you like.’ He did it and I’m very pleased as he is being very successful.”

The President also spoke on what he said was the failure of the elite to support the welfare and educational needs of the masses.

Buhari added,

“When I drive around the country, what upsets me very much is the status of our poor people in this country.

“You see young people, the so-called Almajiris, with torn dresses, carrying plastic bowls. They are looking basically for what to eat.

“They (masses) see education as  a luxury. I think the Nigerian elite, we are all failing because I think we should have a programme that will at least guarantee some basic education for our people, no matter how poor they are.

“So, I welcome the Vice-President’s initiative on the school feeding programme. If you check in your localities, the enrolment into schools improved because a lot of children can get at least one good meal a day. That is the position of this country.

“But, culturally, some of us are quite merciless, we don’t care about what happens to others, we just keep on moving forward.”

Osinbajo, who responded on behalf of the President’s guests, thanked him for the decision to invite both Muslims and Christians to break the Ramadan fast with him.

He spoke in detail,

“There are some reasons I had always looked forward to the Ramadan season. But some of those reasons are now being seriously challenged.

“The first of those reasons is that during the Ramadan, meetings are usually very short. But, unfortunately, last Wednesday, Mr President seemed to have destroyed that very good notion by taking us through the longest FEC meeting in the history of the Federal Executive Council.

“So, we shouldn’t expect anymore that meetings will necessary be short during the Ramadan.

“The second is that some of my friends are far less troublesome during the Ramadan. People like Lai Mohammed, Abba Kyari, Adamu Adamu, they are usually very well behaved during the Ramadan. But I’m not even sure that is true anymore.

“So, I think that all we can truly expect now from the season is possibly what it was meant to do, which is to remind us of some of our responsibilities to ourselves as brothers and to our fellow men/women, especially our roles as leaders.

“I think it’s auspicious that this particular Ramadan falls at the eve of the new term in office.

“So, it is an opportunity for us to remind ourselves over the core mandate, which is the welfare and security of majority of our people.”