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Sadiya Umar Farouq, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, says it is “elitist” to assume that the N5,000 monthly national cash transfer to vulnerable households is insignificant.
The minister spoke on Thursday during a briefing with state house correspondents.
She made the comment when asked about the relevance of the initiative to the federal government’s plan to save 100 million Nigerians from extreme poverty.
The minister said the intervention may not be fitting for some classes of Nigerians, but it makes a difference in the lives of poor Nigerians.
She said: “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, you have seen, they were able to save out of that N5,000.
“When people say N5000 does not save people, that is an elitist statement, honestly 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 it in their lives.
“So, it goes a long way, it changes their status and by that, it lifts them from one stage to another.”
