Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Umar Farouq, says the N5,000 stipend being shared by the Buhari regime to some Nigerians goes a long way to lift their economic status.

Ms Farouq said this to reporters at the State House, Abuja on Thursday.

“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,” said the minister,  “but for you and me, N5,000 is not even enough for us to buy recharge card, that’s the difference.”

Mrs Farouq dismissed suggestions that N5,000 is too small, saying some beneficiaries of the cash transfer shed tears because they have never seen the amount in their lives.

“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 in their lives. So, it goes a long way, it changes their status and by that, it lifts them from one stage to another,” she said. 

The Buhari regime has kept an abiding faith with its socialist approach to citizens empowerment. The ministry which Ms Farouq supervises has claimed disbursed of billions of naira through various interventions to indigent and vulnerable people.

Mrs Farouq’s statement came as Nigerians were lamenting worsening economic hardship and insecurity, with Mr Buhari promising but failing repeatedly to contain the crises, while plunging the country into huge debt.

Whereas the regime said it has lifted 10.5 million Nigerians out of poverty, the World Bank said seven million Nigerians dropped below the poverty line due to worsening inflation in the country in 2020. 

Rising inflation rates have sent prices of food and commodities through the roof, as the nation’s central bank battles foreign exchange crises.