Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has said the average Nigerian can survive on N3,000 daily, arguing that poverty benchmarks should be assessed within the economic realities of individual countries.

Omokri made the remarks on Sunday Politics, a television programme, while discussing the rising cost of living and international poverty standards.

He said he personally visited markets with a journalist, without security personnel, to determine the prices of essential food items, including yam, rice, maize and fruits.

According to him, his assessment showed that Nigerians could live on about N3,000 a day, although the same amount would constitute poverty in the United States.

“I went there with one journalist, no security and I stopped along the way, and I priced goods. I priced yam, I priced rice, I priced maize, I priced fruits. In Nigeria, people can live on that amount in a day.

“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,” he said.

Omokri also distinguished between the World Bank’s global poverty benchmark and the realities of living costs in Nigeria.

He said the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s definition of poverty, which he described as living on less than $2 a day, was based on a global standard and should be understood within the economic context in which it is applied.

Asked whether he disagreed with the World Bank’s poverty benchmark, Omokri said the international institution was applying a global benchmark.

“The World Bank is using a global benchmark. And they’ve always used it?” he added.