There are many ways to defend President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, but using a plate of food at a Nigerian mama put restaurant to explain why Nigerians should be grateful for their economic situation might not be one of the brighter options. Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole apparently thinks otherwise.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, November 5, the former Edo State governor argued that Nigerians still enjoy a relatively cheaper cost of living than Americans.
His evidence? N2,000 can buy someone food at a Nigerian mama put, while $1 cannot buy anything in the United States. 
According to Oshiomhole, Nigerians living abroad complain about the cost of living in America despite enjoying what he considers a more affordable environment back home.
The senator’s argument was part of his defence of Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the foreign exchange market.
Now, there is one little problem with this comparison: Oshiomhole seems to have confused the price of something with people’s ability to afford it. And when you introduce minimum wages, purchasing power and basic social benefits into the conversation, the argument starts looking considerably less impressive.
How Adams Oshiomhole Got His Calculations Wrong
1. Adams Oshiomhole forgot that salaries matter
Perhaps the biggest problem with Adams Oshiomhole’s argument is that he conveniently ignored how much the average worker earns in both countries.
Nigeria’s National Minimum Wage Act, as amended in 2024, sets the minimum monthly wage at ₦70,000 for covered workers, although certain categories of workers and establishments qualify for exemptions. Meanwhile, the US federal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour for covered workers. Several states offer considerably higher rates.
Assuming an American works 40 hours weekly, the federal minimum wage translates to approximately $1,257 monthly before taxes.
Now, consider what the senator’s supposedly comparable amounts represent:
- ₦2,000 represents approximately 2.86% of Nigeria’s ₦70,000 monthly minimum wage.
- $1 represents approximately 0.08% of an American worker’s estimated $1,257 monthly minimum wage.
In other words, ₦2,000 takes a considerably bigger bite out of a Nigerian minimum-wage earner’s monthly income than $1 takes out of an American worker’s. And if someone spends ₦2,000 on food every day, that amounts to ₦60,000 monthly, leaving just ₦10,000 for transportation, accommodation, electricity, healthcare and other expenses.
Apparently, Oshiomhole’s calculator did not get that far.
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2. The exchange rate also exposes the weakness in the comparison
There is another rather obvious problem with Adams Oshiomhole’s comparison: ₦2,000 and $1 are not equivalent amounts under the prevailing exchange rate.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange data, the official naira-dollar rate stood at approximately ₦1,346.26 per dollar on October 30, 2026.
At that rate, ₦2,000 was worth approximately $1.49. That is not an enormous difference, but it reinforces the point that the senator compared two different amounts without establishing a meaningful economic benchmark. More importantly, exchange rates alone do not determine affordability.
A country can have relatively cheap restaurant meals and still have millions of people struggling to afford food because their incomes are too low. That is why economists examine purchasing power, household expenditure, wages and essential commodity prices rather than celebrating whichever country has the cheaper-looking plate of food.
Nigeria’s food inflation stood at 19.57% year-on-year in August 2026, according to National Bureau of Statistics figures reported by The Guardian.
A senator defending economic reforms should probably understand that distinction.
3. What benefits do workers receive in both countries?
If Adams Oshiomhole wants to compare the Nigerian and American cost of living, perhaps he should also compare what citizens receive in return for the money they earn.
The United States operates several established social support programmes, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps eligible low-income households purchase food.
There is also Medicaid, which provides healthcare coverage to eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly people and persons with disabilities.
The country also operates Social Security retirement and disability benefits, alongside unemployment insurance for eligible workers.
Of course, America is not a social welfare paradise. Access depends on eligibility, and healthcare remains painfully expensive for people without adequate insurance.
Nigeria also has social protection frameworks, including the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022, which makes health insurance mandatory and provides for vulnerable groups to receive coverage through government-supported funding arrangements. The country also operates contributory pension schemes and targeted social intervention programmes.
However, having policies on paper does not automatically translate into effective access for every Nigerian. Coverage, funding and implementation remain major challenges.
The point is not that every American receives free healthcare or food assistance. They do not. Rather, comparing living standards requires examining the wider support systems that help households survive when their earnings fall short.
You cannot simply point at a cheap plate of rice in Lagos and pretend the discussion is over.
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4. Oshiomhole’s defence of Tinubu’s reforms misses the bigger picture
To be fair, Oshiomhole is not entirely wrong to suggest that some goods and services cost less in Nigeria than in the United States. Differences in wages, production costs, housing markets and purchasing power mean certain everyday expenses are considerably cheaper in one country than the other.
However, that does not automatically mean Nigerians enjoy a better standard of living or that Tinubu’s economic reforms have made life more affordable.
A Reuters report published in August 2026 highlighted the continuing cost-of-living pressure on Nigerian households, noting that petrol prices had risen substantially following subsidy removal and that many workers struggled to stretch their salaries across basic expenses.
The reforms have economic arguments in their favour, including the possibility of improving government revenue, reducing market distortions and attracting investment. But those arguments should stand on measurable outcomes such as real wages, employment, food affordability, inflation, healthcare access and poverty reduction.
A meaningful assessment must also consider whether ordinary Nigerians can afford the essentials after paying for transportation, rent, food and other necessities.
That is a much more useful way to measure economic progress than asking whether someone can still find a plate of food for ₦2,000 somewhere in Nigeria.
Conclusion: A cheap meal does not mean a cheap life
Adams Oshiomhole may have intended his $1-versus-₦2,000 comparison to demonstrate that Nigeria remains affordable despite the economic difficulties associated with Tinubu’s reforms.
Unfortunately, he ended up illustrating why simplistic comparisons can be misleading.
The American earning the federal minimum wage has a different income structure from the Nigerian earning the national minimum wage. Their respective $1 and ₦2,000 expenses also consume vastly different proportions of their monthly earnings.
Add differences in social protection, healthcare access and purchasing power, and the senator’s argument becomes even harder to defend.
Perhaps the next time Oshiomhole appears on Politics Today to discuss the economy, someone should ask him to bring more than a mama put receipt.
A payslip, household budget and calculator and maybe understanding that goes beyond simple mathematical comparison might make for a considerably more useful discussion.
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