Ope Banwo
-Says Ope Banwo
By Ojomo Olusegun Adebambo
A Public Affairs Analyst, Mr Ope Banwo has advised a Presidential aide, Mr. Tope Fasua not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by his recent statement that the cost of lunch in the USA and Nigeria Is at par.
Dr. Tope Fasua, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Economic Affairs was quoted as saying that the standard of living in Nigeria may be better than in the United States, and that many Nigerians do not understand the meaning of multi-dimensional poverty.
Fasua, while explaining, defended the value of the naira locally despite its weakness against the dollar, stressing that $1, equivalent to over N1,500, can still buy a meal in Nigeria.
“Some people don’t understand the meaning of multi-dimensional poverty. They think multi-dimensional poverty is worse than food poverty. What multi-dimensional means is that maybe the school your children attend is too far from you, or the hospital, and they categorise you as multi-dimensional.”
“$10 won’t buy you lunch in the U.S., but N1,000 will buy you lunch in Nigeria.”
This, according to him, proves that the naira has “real local value” and that Nigeria’s economic reality is better than global statistics suggest.
Reacting, Ope Banwo faulted Fasua’s explanation, insisting that there was no level of comparison.
‘’I want to be on record as being affronted by the comments of the otherwise respected economist, Mr Tope Fasua . We deserve leaders who do not insult our intelligence in the name of patriotism or party loyalty. It is one thing for politicians to stretch the truth. It is quite another when trained economists, entrusted with national policy, abandon economic fundamentals in a desperate attempt to spin the unspinnable. When such individuals begin to measure national prosperity OR the meaning of multi-dimensional poverty by the cost of a lunch plate, we are no longer in the realm of policy — we have entered the theatre of absurdity,’’ he said.
Tope Fasua
Banwo stated that ‘’comparing REAL Wages — Not Lunch Plates — Is what actually reveals the true standard of living, and, by extension Multidimensional poverty’’.
According to Banwo, Minimum wage in the U.S. averages $10/hour or more, totaling $1,600/month (approx. ₦2,480,000.00 monthly at current naira/dollar rates) while Minimum wage in Nigeria is ₦70,000/month, about $40/month, which comes to just $2/day or 25 cents an hour (based on a standard work week.
‘’That means an American minimum wage earner makes almost 40 times MORE than their Nigerian counterpart. Even if a $10 lunch in the U.S. seems expensive, the American worker can afford 160 of them monthly. If he were buying ₦1,000 lunches in Nigeria, he could afford over 2,800 such meals a month. Meanwhile, a Nigerian on ₦70,000/month can only afford 70 lunches at ₦1,000 — assuming he spends every single kobo on food and nothing else and assuming he can live on N1,000 lunches without dying of kwashiokor’’, he argued ‘’So if this were truly a “lunch affordability contest,” Nigeria still loses — spectacularly. Truth is the “Local Value” argument ignores global realities. Reducing poverty to affordability of a miserable N1,000 lunch over a $10 lunch in USA, is a simplistic and shameful deflection by an economist who should know better’’, he concluded.