Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has said an average Nigerian can survive on N3,000 a day.
He argued that poverty should be assessed based on the economic realities of each country.
Omokri made the statement on Sunday Politics, a television programme, while discussing the rising cost of living and international poverty standards.
According to him, “I went to the market with a journalist, without security, and checked the prices of yam, rice, maize and fruits. From what I saw, N3,000 is enough for an average Nigerian to live on for a day.”
Omokri, however, said the same amount would not be enough to meet basic needs in the United States because of the difference in living costs.
“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,” stated.
The ambassador-designate also discussed the World Bank’s global poverty benchmark.
According to him, international standards should not be viewed without considering the economic conditions of individual countries.
He said the global benchmark of living on less than $2 a day was different from assessing poverty based on the actual cost of living in Nigeria.
When asked if he disagreed with the World Bank’s poverty benchmark, Omokri said the institution was using a global standard that had been applied internationally.