The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, has dismissed as “elitist assertion” comments that the regime’s N5,000 monthly national conditional cash transfer to some poor and vulnerable people is insufficient to lift Nigerians out of poverty.
She said this to State House correspondents on Thursday during the weekly ministerial media briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to her, the government has discovered through direct contact with the beneficiaries that the money has helped the poor and vulnerable of the society to escape from their dire situation even as some have been able to save from the amount.
She stated, “If you look at the people that you are taking this intervention to, N5,000 means a lot to them, because these are poor and vulnerable households, and it changes their status; but for you and me, N5,000 is not even enough for us to buy recharge card; that’s the difference.
“But for these poor people in the communities, they were able to save out of that N5,000; if it’s not making any impact, if it’s not changing their economic status, I don’t think anybody will force them to contribute that N1,000 to provide that vehicle for their use. So, N5,000 goes a long way.
“When people say N5,000 does not save people, that is an elitist statement, because we’ve had causes to go to the field and we have seen these people that when you give them this N5,000, they cried and shed tears, because they’ve never seen N5,000 in their lives. So, it goes a long way, it changes their status, and by that, it lifts them from one stage to another.”
