Onoh Faults Omokri Over N3,000 Daily Living Claim

Josef Onoh, former South-East spokesman to President Bola Tinubu and chairman of the Forum of Former Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly, has criticised Reno Omokri over his claim that an average Nigerian can live comfortably on N3,000 a day.

Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to Mexico, made the remark on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, saying he had priced staples such as yam, rice, maize and fruits during a market visit with a journalist.

He said he concluded that N3,000 was enough for a day’s living in Nigeria, although the same amount would amount to poverty in the United States.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Onoh described the claim as economically unrealistic and out of touch with the cost of living faced by Nigerian households.

He noted that N3,000 a day amounts to about N90,000 a month, which is above the N70,000 national minimum wage.

Onoh argued that the calculation treats Nigerians as isolated individuals rather than members of households that often include several people.

For a family of five, he said, a N3,000 daily budget leaves only N600 per person, which he said is insufficient for a nutritionally adequate meal, let alone clothing, education, healthcare and transport.

Onoh cited National Bureau of Statistics data showing that the cost of a healthy diet is substantially higher than the amount required for basic nutrition, while cooking fuel and potable water are often excluded from food-cost calculations.

He said prices of staples had continued to rise in major urban markets, citing examples such as fresh pepper and tomatoes selling for about N9,000 and N12,000 per paint bucket, alongside higher prices for rice, beans, tubers, eggs and beef.

He also stressed that living conditions vary sharply across regions and between rural and urban areas.

While some rural households can reduce food expenses through subsistence farming, he said residents of cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt face unavoidable bills for electricity, fuel and transport.

Onoh said using the minimum wage to justify a N3,000 daily “survival” budget risks normalising poverty instead of confronting the pressures facing households.

He added that families spending 60 to 70 per cent of their income on food have little left for education, healthcare or savings.

Onoh also argued that a one-off market visit cannot provide an accurate picture of the country’s cost of living.

“To label N3,000 as a viable daily survival threshold for the average Nigerian is to mistake bare subsistence for living, masking a deep humanitarian and economic reality behind superficial retail arithmetic,” he said.

Onoh urged Omokri to align his comments with the financial pressures facing Nigerians and called on public officials to treat citizens’ welfare as a duty of government rather than a privilege.

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