According to the World Data Info, “In only a very few countries, the price increase is that high. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 72.8% in 1995 means, that compared to the previous year all prices have been increased by an average of 72.8%. In comparison to other countries, the drastic price increases are no longer on average. Usually this is a sign of political and economic turmoil.”
There is no denying the fact that N5, 000.00 (Five Thousand Naira) cannot in any way sustain the feeding and sundry expenses of people that consist of any household that has fallen into poverty, let alone freeing such people from the shackle of poverty.
It is against the foregoing backdrop that not few Nigerians are struggling to come to terms with the disclosure by Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development that many Nigerians have been lifted from poverty as beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s N5, 000.00 monthly national conditional cash transfer.
The fact, which incontrovertibly sounds implausible to many Nigerians was disclosed by the minister while speaking at the weekly ministerial media briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
As gathered, Farouq dismissed claims that the initiative is not effective, saying the N5, 000.00 cash transfer has helped the poor and vulnerable of the society to escape from their dire situation.
Permit me to contextually laugh out loud over the minister’s assertion that the cash transfer, which is unarguably a token that can barely make practical effect on the economy of an average household has become what the minister said has assisted the poor and defenseless members of the society to escape from their dismal situation.
To epitomize her seeming spurious disclosure, the minister said the money was so sufficient for many of the beneficiaries, such that they save from it for projects and future purposes. 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.
At this juncture, it is expedient to say that a dispassionate analytical view of the minister’s clarification as quoted above demonstrates that the poor she claimed have being lifted from poverty are still within the realm of penury if her words, as quoted above, are anything to go buy. Given the minister’s assertion, a friend of mine asked me if she meant $5,000.00, (Five Thousand Dollars) even as she added that the beneficiaries made some savings out of the cash transfer.
She said, “But for these poor people in the communities, they were able to save out of that N5, 000.00; 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, 000.00 to provide that vehicle for their use. So, N5, 000.00 goes a long way.
“When people say N5, 000.00 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, 000.00, they cried and shed tears, because they’ve never seen N5, 000.00 in their lives. So, it goes a long way, it changes their status, and by that, it lifts them from one stage to another.”
In as much as this opinion article is not aimed at discrediting the efforts of the federal government toward the mitigation of poverty in the land, it is salient to opine that the programme which is well known as the Household Uplifting Programme (HUP), should not in any way be politicized as the initiative is one of the social safety nets programmes anchored by the Federal Government of Nigeria. It should not be used to score cheap political points as it is not benefiting “many Nigerians” contrary to as bogusly claimed.
It would be recalled that following its launch in 2016 as an initiative that was conceived to be part of the FG’s larger growth and social inclusion strategies aimed at addressing key social concerns in the country that not few Nigerians at the grassroots segment of the population looked forward to benefit from it. Disappointedly, efforts made by this writer, even as a Consumer Affairs journalist, to authenticate the fact that “many Nigerians” have been benefiting from the N5,000 financial support to poor and vulnerable individual in Nigerian households has proved abortive.
In fact, this writer still finds it difficult to believe that having consummated the social register in 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that a substantial spectrum of the grassroots population have not benefitted from the programme, contrary to claim by the government. This situation, no doubt, defies the law of large numbers in Probability which suggests that even the most seemingly random processes adhere to predictable calculations. This law of averages asserts that the more you expand your sample size, the more likely you will find the results hewing close to your initially projected outcome. The question now, “Since the government claimed that 36 states including FCT have being covered as regards the cash transfer, why is it difficult to see one beneficiary?
The foregoing poser is no doubt expedient in this context as the National Coordinator of the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Iorwa Apera, at a media parley in 2020, precisely in October of that year, disclosed that the cash transfer programme of the Nigerian government was not a scam amidst national skepticism,
He said then, “The cash transfer, so far, is in 32 states. The remaining states will come on board this next payment round that we are. We’re working towards that. Borno, Ebonyi, and Ogun states will likely be part of the scheme next week (this week). We have so far established offices in 36 states of the federation and the FCT. What we do is to reach out to the state government and sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government. Once the state government signs this MoU, they will establish that office in the ministry of planning supervised by the Permanent Secretary and will competitively recruit civil servants to mind the offices, structured with the state coordinator and accountant drawn from the office of the accountant-general and other operational staff that support them.
“Now, having established the offices, we will sit with the state government officials, that is, the state operations coordinating unit officials, and other relevant line ministries like the bureau of statistics of the state, the National Population Commission (NPC) from that state and other relevant agencies and establish what we call the poverty map of a state. Now, the poverty map will categorize local governments from the poor to the poorest based on statistics from the bureau of statistics.”
Be that as it may, the government have tried in this direction of ameliorating the biting poverty that is affecting virtually every household across Nigeria. To me, it should not be politicized to score cheap political point, or integrated into campaign programme as a trump card message.
In fact, looking at the trajectory of inflationary rate in the country for almost a decade now, not few people would throw caution to the wind, and bluntly conclude that N5, 000.00 cash transfer in a month to a family is insignificant to meaningfully impact on the wellbeing of such household, not to talk of saying it is lifting “many Nigerians” from poverty. To me, it is a subtle and surreptitious way of mocking the poor among us. The question been asked is, “Why can’t the government industrialize the country since 2015 as a way of creating jobs for the poor, rather than doling out money to them?
Retrospectively looking at development of Inflation rate over the years, it is expedient to say that the inflation rate for consumer prices in Nigeria over the past 40 years hovered around 5.4% and 72.8%. For 2019, an inflation rate of 11.4% was calculated.
During the observation period from 1979 to 2019, according to World Data Info, an online data portal, the average inflation rate was 19.2% per year. Overall, the price increase was 80,304.39 %. It has been so unspeakable that an item that cost 100 Naira in 1979 was so charged N80, 404.39 Naira in the beginning of 2020.
In fact, since the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation increased in Nigeria to 15.6 per cent, Year-on-Year in January 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Report released on February 15, food inflation has been the aspect of most concern to Nigerians.
According to the World Data Info, “In only a very few countries, the price increase is that high. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 72.8% in 1995 means, that compared to the previous year all prices have been increased by an average of 72.8%. In comparison to other countries, the drastic price increases are no longer on average. Usually this is a sign of political and economic turmoil.” Against the foregoing background, “Which N5, 000.00 was the minister referring to, so much that it has lifted “many Nigerians from poverty?” Against the foregoing background, methinks N5000.00 isn’t enough to lift households up from the quagmire of poverty.
Isaac Asabor
