Average Nigerian can live on N3,000 daily — Reno Omokri

Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has said the average Nigerian can survive on N3,000 daily, arguing that poverty benchmarks should be considered within the economic context of individual countries.

Omokri stated this on Sunday Politics, a television programme, while discussing the cost of living and international poverty standards.

He said he had personally visited markets with a journalist, without security, to ascertain the prices of essential food items, including yam, rice, maize and fruits.

According to him, his assessment showed that Nigerians could live on N3,000 a day, although the same amount would amount to poverty in the United States.

He said: “I went there with one journalist, no security, and I stopped along the way, and I priced goods. I priced yam, I priced rice, I priced maize, I priced fruits. In Nigeria, people can live on that amount in a day.

“But in the United States, if you try to live on that amount in a day, it is poverty. So, you have to context, again, context matters.”

Omokri further distinguished between the World Bank’s global poverty benchmark and the realities of living costs in Nigeria.

He said the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s definition of poverty, which he described as living on less than $2 a day, was different from how poverty should be assessed within the Nigerian context.

Asked whether he disagreed with the World Bank’s poverty benchmark, Omokri said the international institution was applying a global standard.

He added: “The World Bank is using a global benchmark. And they’ve always used it?”