Juliet Buna
Controversial Nigerian politician and IT entrepreneur, Adamu Garba II, during an interview stated that Nigeria is ‘one of the cheapest places to live in.’
The interview was on a podcast called MIC ON PODCAST hosted by seasoned TV host, Seun Okinbaloye. Garba II who was a guest on the podcast made this claim while answering Okinbaloye’s question on the current state of Nigeria’s economy and what the government is doing about it.
He was quoted saying, “Nobody would tell you that the economy has been what it used to be, it is very tough, Half a dollar is more than 1,400. Energy costs are very high. If you look at the statistics that the Global World Economic Forum did, they mentioned one of the cheapest countries to live in and the most expensive to live in.
“The top three countries that are the cheapest to live in the world or cities starting from Pakistan, India and the third one is Nigeria, globally. Even though we are seeing these things so hard, it is actually still far better than so many other countries.”
Garba II’s claim comes at a time when Nigeria’s current economic situation is on a decline, from the upward fluctuation of dollar to naira exchange rate, general inflation rising to 28.92 percent while food inflation reached 33.93 percent as of December 2023.
VERIFICATION
The cost of living is the amount of money needed to sustain a certain comfort level in a location. A country’s or city’s cost of living is calculated using the cost of living index. A cost-of-living index is a theoretical price index that measures relative cost of living over time or regions. This index measures differences in the price of goods and services across locations using various methodologies.
Garba II cited in his claim that statistics on the cheapest places to live in and the most expensive to live was from the Global World Economic Forum, so the researcher went ahead to verify the source. A thorough internet search using the keywords, ‘cheapest place to live in the world wef’ revealed that the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s report on the cheapest place to live in the world was published in 2015. The WEF article titled, “The 10 most affordable cities in the world,” had cities in Saudi Arabia, Panama, Romania, Algeria, Nepal, Syria, India and Pakistan on the list, there was no mention of Nigeria on the list.
Switching the word ‘cheapest’ to ‘expensive’ in the same keyword search came back with results which included an article published by WEF in 2023 titled, “These are the most expensive cities in 2023.” The list here had Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, New York, Monaco, Dubai, Taipei, São Paulo, and Miami as some of the most expensive cities to live in with no mention of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, checks by the N-VA on the International Cost of Living Calculator which was last updated on November 06, 2023, places Nigeria at 146th in terms of the cheapest countries with a cost of living spend of $635 for one person. However, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living 2023 revealed that Lagos which is ranked 165 is one of the cheapest cities to live in when compared to New York with an index of 100–Lagos’s index is 35.
However, Numbeo’s updated cost of living index for 2024 ranks Nigeria second globally in countries with the lowest cost of living. Numbeo is the world’s largest cost of living database with a crowd-sourced global database of quality of life data such as housing indicators, perceived crime rates, healthcare quality, transport quality, and other statistics.
The recent ranking by Numbeo positions Nigeria as the country with lowest cost of living in Africa and second lowest in the world, with Pakistan topping the list.
CONCLUSION
Garba II’s claim that Nigeria is the third cheapest place to live in the world is MISLEADING and his source for the claim is also MISLEADING.
