N5,000 conditional cash transfer changes status

The Federal Government has said those that write off its N5,000 monthly national cash transfer to poor and vulnerable households across the nation as insufficient are being elitist.

The N5,000, it said, can change the status of many Nigerians going by field experiences.

The Minister of Humanitarian Services, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, stated this on Thursday during the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the presidential media team.

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 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 along way.

“When people say N5, 000 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.”