I use to hear people saying comparing America’s cost of living to that of Nigeria is foolish. I have never understood how it is foolish, kindly educate me… if you hold this opinion.
An American friend told me his rent PER MONTH is 1,500 Dollars (about 800,000 Naira per month). And I have seen this apartment, it is a basic apartment, not even spacious at all. I know things like gas and utility bills are usually factored in but if you factor in everything in Nigeria per month for that apartment it will still be less than 100 Dollars for the month. Compare that to 1,500 dollars, that is 15 times more you have to pay.
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The average cost of haircut in the US is 28 Dollars (about 14,000 Naira) as against 500 – 1,000 Naira in Nigeria. At least on haircut we can agree that a haircut is a haircut.
You may say they earn more but what are the percentages? Some have put the average American earning at about 4,000 Dollars a month. Say you take out rent for a small apartment, you will be left with 2,500 Dollars having paid ONLY rent.
We don’t need to go item by item, there are lists of average spending of Americans that put the daily spending, aside rent, at 132 Dollars. This is 3,960 Dollars monthly, add to rent of 1,500 Dollars, that is more than 4,000 Dollars that is the average monthly income.
People will have to cut down on something to make ends meet. And again not every one is paid the average salary amount, so this is why it is said that it is very difficult to become WEALTHY in the US. You will need to invent something, start a line of business, do business across generations, or at least have a very high paying job which are usually reserved for highly educated people or near geniuses.
Again, I am asking why the comparison is foolish. I am not saying it is perfectly done. Even small holes can be punched in this my analysis, but why is it FOOLISH when it says certain things.
It says things are cost higher, businesses make more and pay more and the spending power of those who work a job increases. Oh yes, it is not that simple, I know. Nothing about finance is that simple but I am asking why do you say it is a none issue when it obviously is?
Is it really foolish to compare Nigeria to America?
I think our challenge is that we dismiss everything as “trying to defend the President”. It may blind us to some realities. I asked someone who runs a store, why can’t you pay your sales girl 50,000 Naira and the answer is the usual “how much I dey make?”.
And this person sells things that are not essential, so I asked why are these non essentials this cheap? Why will you profit 500 Naira from a body cream when you will sell just 2 in a month? Yes one may say people will not buy, because those people too are poorly paid because where they work cannot afford to pay them better for the same reason. It is a negative circle in my opinion.
Do you agree with this? Maybe not. But is it foolish? You have to be uninterested in intellectualism to say so. This is my point; do not fail to learn what you need to learn because you want to make a political point. That is the problem with Nigeria.
The next guy who wants to win election is only interested in your believing the guy there is evil; no one dug deep into why the guy there failed the failure he is being accused of. Of all Nigeria’s problem I think this lack of depth on issues is the worse because it produces every other problem.
- Eseoghene Al-Faruq Ohwojeheri, CEO of Minhaj Publicity, lives in Benin
