Josef Onoh, Chairman of the Forum of Former Members of Enugu State House of Assembly, has tackled Reno Omokri, Nigeria’s ambassador designate to Mexico, over the claim that an average Nigerian can comfortably live on a budget of ₦3,000 daily
Speaking on Sunday Politics, a programme, Omokri said he personally conducted market survey to verify current prices for basic food staples
“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,” Omokri said.
“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.”
Reacting in a statement on Monday, Onoh said Omokri’s presentation was structurally flawed, economically detached, and deeply insensitive
He said while ₦3,000 a day aggregates mathematically to roughly ₦90,000 per month, seemingly above the national ₦70,000 minimum wage, it was an isolated calculation that ignores the fundamental socio-economic structures of the modern Nigerian household, the realities of food inflation, and the soaring costs of non-food necessities
“Omokri’s analysis treats the Nigerian citizen as an isolated, single economic unit operating in a vacuum Whereas in reality, the average Nigerian household consists of five to six individuals. For a family of five, a ₦3,000 daily budget translates to an impossible ₦600 per person per day.
“In today’s market, ₦600 cannot secure a single nutritionally complete meal for one individual, let alone cover three daily meals, clothing, schooling, and healthcare”
Onoh held that reality of Food and Nutritional Costs Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) underscores that the Cost of a Healthy Diet averages well over ₦1,500 per adult per day just to meet bare minimum nutritional requirements
“And the cost represents raw ingredients alone and completely excludes critical overheads such as cooking gas, kerosene, charcoal, or potable water In major urban markets, where the price of absolute staples has outpaced baseline projections.
“A standard paint bucket of fresh pepper ranges near ₦9,000, while fresh tomatoes sit around ₦12,000 Bulk agricultural grains, legumes, and tubers like rice and beans continue to spike annually due to severe logistic bottlenecks.
“Essential protein sources, including eggs and beef, have become premium commodities, squeezing the purchasing power of the working class which Omokri is fully aware of but opted to play politics with the truth”
Onoh said Omokri’s claim further collapses when subjected to regional economic pressures
“While a rural, agrarian household in the North West might lean on local subsistence farming to lower food costs, urban dwellers in hubs like Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt face rigid, unavoidable structural overheads High energy tariffs, fuel costs, and skyrocketing intra-city transport fares heavily drain disposable income before a single grain of food is purchased.”
“Omokri using the ₦70,000 minimum wage to justify a ₦3,000 daily survival budget is a regressive economic argument That attempts to normalize extreme poverty rather than addressing the structural distress within the current economic realities of Nigerians When households are forced to allocate upwards of 60% to 70% of their entire income strictly to food, it crowds out life-saving investments in education, savings, and healthcare.
“His poor attempt to micro-pricing a few raw items during an isolated market visit does not constitute an economic reality To label ₦3,000 as a viable daily survival threshold for an average Nigerian is to mistake bare subsistence for living, masking a deep humanitarian and economic reality behind superficial retail arithmetic.
“I urge Mr Omokri to align his narratives with the empirical financial pressures facing the Nigerian masses rather than serving suffering Nigerians with false political economic arithmetic for the purpose of mere political appointment, the welfare of Nigerians must be treated as a priority of any responsible government and it’s representatives and not a privilege.”