₦airaland Forum

lionshare:
You seem to have skipped a class in economics---You’re applying exchange-rate thinking where PPP is more relevant. The question isn’t what ₦1 million equals in dollars, but what it actually buys within Nigeria.

Because Nigeria has a lower cost base—cheaper labour, services, and many locally sourced inputs—the same naira amount can command more real resources locally than a dollar-equivalent would in the U.S. That’s exactly what purchasing power parity (PPP) captures, unlike a simple FX conversion.

Also, your analysis ignores that states spend mostly within the domestic economy. Roads, salaries, contracts, and services are largely priced in naira, not dollars. So exchange-rate-based comparisons can distort real fiscal capacity.

Egbami! Kini eleyi tun sọ bayii?

Mr. Economist, Honestly, I don’t understand a single thing you just wrote. At this point, you might need to translate or interpret whatever the AI generated for you, because I’m not entirely convinced you understand it yourself.

Maybe read it again, break it down into simple English, and then come back. Right now, it reads like a collection of words looking for a meaning.

This one that suppose to be questioning his/her governor about what he is doing with the FAAC and enormous grants given to them but his busy making case for people that are part of the problems of Nigerians because of the hatred for Tinubu.

May your hatred for him not make you collect food to eat from your enemy o.

ibabz:
Then you get hell off my thread if you can’t reason like an adult.

You don't own Nairaland and I didn't quote you boy
If you can't quote me like a sane and matured adult, dont bother to do so at all abeg

lionshare:
You seem to have skipped a class in economics---You’re applying exchange-rate thinking where PPP is more relevant. The question isn’t what ₦1 million equals in dollars, but what it actually buys within Nigeria.

Because Nigeria has a lower cost base—cheaper labour, services, and many locally sourced inputs—the same naira amount can command more real resources locally than a dollar-equivalent would in the U.S. That’s exactly what purchasing power parity (PPP) captures, unlike a simple FX conversion.

Also, your analysis ignores that states spend mostly within the domestic economy. Roads, salaries, contracts, and services are largely priced in naira, not dollars. So exchange-rate-based comparisons can distort real fiscal capacity.

Let me even pretend I understand the point you’re trying to make.

Can ₦1 million today buy what it could buy five years ago? The answer is obvious. The purchasing power of Nigerians has been severely eroded.

How many civil servants can afford to buy a tokunbo car today? How many can realistically think about building a house? Even many Level 15 officers can no longer afford things that were once within reach for middle-income earners, let alone undertake major projects like home ownership.

What’s even more telling is that many civil servants now struggle to send their children to public universities without relying on NELFUND loans. These are people with stable jobs and regular salaries.

Yet, despite all this, you want people to believe these are signs of economic success and call them achievements? Please wake up and face reality. Economic policies should improve the living standards of ordinary citizens, not make survival more difficult while expecting applause.

Kindledlight:
This one that suppose to be questioning his/her governor about what he is doing with the FAAC and enormous grants given to them but his busy making case for people that are part of the problems of Nigerians because of the hatred for Tinubu.

May your hatred for him not make you collect food to eat from your enemy o.

I’m damn sure you haven’t watched this video. Kindly watch it. It’s just about 10mins video. If you still come back with this mentality then I don’t know what to say to you. Even your APC spokesperson could not say pimm. In case you don’t have enough data let me know, i can buy data for you, because i know that N30k stipend they pay you can not sustain you.

The APC, President Tinubu and those who work with him suffer what in economics we call the "illusion of money"... By the devaluation of the naira to the dollar, it gives you an illusion as if additional money is coming in, but that money has no purchasing power,' says SDP's… pic.twitter.com/pso5oZ52lg

— Channels Television (@channelstv) May 31, 2026

/video/1?s=46

Parachoko:
You don't own Nairaland and I didn't quote you boy
If you can't quote me like a sane and matured adult, dont bother to do so at all abeg

I never claimed the ownership of Nairaland, but this is MY thread. I should have certainly level of control over my thread. In other platforms, I’m giving the right to delete comments like yours. If you’re not pleased with my thoughts you are free to counter or debunk with data and figures, but not commanding me. Who those that?

ibabz:
Egbami! Kini eleyi tun sọ bayii?

Mr. Economist, Honestly, I don’t understand a single thing you just wrote. At this point, you might need to translate or interpret whatever the AI generated for you, because I’m not entirely convinced you understand it yourself.

Maybe read it again, break it down into simple English, and then come back. Right now, it reads like a collection of words looking for a meaning.

Okay, fair enough. Do you know what purchasing power parity (PPP) is? You might want to look it up—it shows why simple FX conversion doesn’t reflect real value.

ibabz:
I’m damn sure you haven’t watched this video. Kindly watch it. It’s just about 10mins video. If you still come back with this mentality then I don’t know what to say to you. Even your APC spokesperson could not say pimm. In case you don’t have enough data let me know, i can buy data for you, because i know that N30k stipend they pay you can not sustain you.

The APC, President Tinubu and those who work with him suffer what in economics we call the "illusion of money"... By the devaluation of the naira to the dollar, it gives you an illusion as if additional money is coming in, but that money has no purchasing power,' says SDP's… pic.twitter.com/pso5oZ52lg

— Channels Television (@channelstv) May 31, 2026

/video/1?s=46

So anyone that has contrary opinion to that rubbish you are defending is collecting 30k stipend. Mtcheew.

What you are doing isn’t far from they refer to as Stockholm syndrome, because of hatred for Tinubu you are defending people you suppose to be questioning or maybe you are part of the rot eating up Nigeria as a country.

And please I don’t need your data rich man.

lionshare:
Okay, fair enough. Do you know what purchasing power parity (PPP) is? You might want to look it up—it shows why simple FX conversion doesn’t reflect real value.

Oya educate us now, sebi you’re the chief economist and I don’t know what PPP is. Explain how someone that earns N70k per month is more superior to someone who earns $15 per hour. Where I have to buy petrol at the same price, pay more for electricity under the fraud called band A. Oya carry mic and explain

ibabz:
Let me even pretend I understand the point you’re trying to make.

Can ₦1 million today buy what it could buy five years ago? The answer is obvious. The purchasing power of Nigerians has been severely eroded.

How many civil servants can afford to buy a tokunbo car today? How many can realistically think about building a house? Even many Level 15 officers can no longer afford things that were once within reach for middle-income earners, let alone undertake major projects like home ownership.

What’s even more telling is that many civil servants now struggle to send their children to public universities without relying on NELFUND loans. These are people with stable jobs and regular salaries.

Yet, despite all this, you want people to believe these are signs of economic success and call them achievements? Please wake up and face reality. Economic policies should improve the living standards of ordinary citizens, not make survival more difficult while expecting applause.

The answer to your question is a big NO, and that remains true because inflation is a global phenomenon, including in the U.S. You can make a case for general salary increases—which is a necessity right now—but even that can’t be scaled without stoking inflation and eroding real value.

That said, it is not correct to say FAAC allocations, while higher in naira terms, have had their real value wiped out by inflation and naira depreciation. If that were the case, state govt would still be dependent on bailouts to meet obligations. Instead, they are funding more capital projects and in some cases reducing debt burdens to create fiscal headroom, which points to stronger capacity, not diminished value.

Kindledlight:
So anyone that has contrary opinion to that rubbish you are defending is collecting 30k stipend. Mtcheew.

What you are doing isn’t far from they refer to as Stockholm syndrome, because of hatred for Tinubu you are defending people you suppose to be questioning or maybe you are part of the rot eating up Nigeria as a country.

And please I don’t need your data rich man.

On the contrary, what you exhibit goes beyond Stockholm syndrome; it borders on outright bewitchment. I genuinely struggle to understand how someone can continue to praise a government that has made life significantly more difficult for ordinary citizens.

Let’s be clear: state governments do not control the national economy, monetary policy, exchange rates, or the country’s overall security architecture. Those are primarily the responsibilities of the federal government. That doesn’t mean state governments shouldn’t be held accountable, they absolutely should. However, the bulk of the responsibility rests on the desk of the President and the federal administration.

This Tinubulation-led government has mastered the art of shifting responsibility for virtually every problem from the federal government to state governments and even to citizens themselves. Whenever there is a failure, someone else is blamed.

So let me ask you a simple question: what is the one tangible, measurable benefit you are personally enjoying from this government today? Just one. Name it.

If you can point to a single clear improvement in your quality of life that is directly attributable to this government, I will apologize right here and now.

And please, don’t mention NELFUND. Taking loans to access education is not the economic breakthrough you seem to think it is. If anything, many people see it as transferring the burden of funding education onto students rather than making education more affordable and accessible.

Today, just so you know, a kg of LNG is now more than N2k.

lionshare:
The answer to your question is a big NO, and that remains true because inflation is a global phenomenon, including in the U.S. You can make a case for general salary increases—which is a necessity right now—but even that can’t be scaled without stoking inflation and eroding real value.

That said, it is not correct to say FAAC allocations, while higher in naira terms, have had their real value wiped out by inflation and naira depreciation. If that were the case, state govt would still be dependent on bailouts to meet obligations. Instead, they are funding more capital projects and in some cases reducing debt burdens to create fiscal headroom, which points to stronger capacity, not diminished value.

It is both pointless and unproductive to engage in an argument with someone whose entire position is based on AI-generated responses rather than independent thought, facts, and evidence.

One of my favorite quotes says it best: “You can convince fifty scholars with a single fact, but you cannot convince a ful with fifty facts.”

At some point, continuing the debate becomes an exercise in futility. When facts, evidence, and logic no longer matter, the discussion ceases to be a debate and becomes a waste of time.

ibabz:
Let me even pretend I understand the point you’re trying to make.

Can ₦1 million today buy what it could buy five years ago? The answer is obvious. The purchasing power of Nigerians has been severely eroded.

How many civil servants can afford to buy a tokunbo car today? How many can realistically think about building a house? Even many Level 15 officers can no longer afford things that were once within reach for middle-income earners, let alone undertake major projects like home ownership.

What’s even more telling is that many civil servants now struggle to send their children to public universities without relying on NELFUND loans. These are people with stable jobs and regular salaries.

Yet, despite all this, you want people to believe these are signs of economic success and call them achievements? Please wake up and face reality. Economic policies should improve the living standards of ordinary citizens, not make survival more difficult while expecting applause.

You obidients are conformists and in no way reformists.

So you expect the FG to continue subsidizing the naira with dwindling resources in the midst of crippling population explosion that has mounted pressure on the govts ability to maintain FX subsidy to be diverted to imports while seeing to a dying manufacturing base that would have seen to employment of the teeming unemployed?

Nigerians are now aware of what other African countries were going through.

Go to Benin republic and compare the cost of fuel to what you are paying right now and you will wonder how the govt is even able to maintain such pricing without subsidy.

You guys are only angry because the FX subsidy regime is over and this is affecting your import based trading ventures.

ibabz:
I never claimed the ownership of Nairaland, but this is MY thread. I should have certainly level of control over my thread. In other platforms, I’m giving the right to delete comments like yours. If you’re not pleased with my thoughts you are free to counter or debunk with data and figures, but not commanding me. Who those that?

If you must quote me, quote me like a matured person whose common sense is working

I don't understand how some of you will quote someone online and start using foul language

FSBoperator:
You obidients are conformists and in no way reformists.

So you expect the FG to continue subsidizing the naira with dwindling resources in the midst of crippling population explosion that has mounted pressure on the govts ability to maintain FX subsidy to be diverted to imports while seeing to a dying manufacturing base that would have seen to employment of the teeming unemployed?

Nigerians are now aware of what other African countries were going through.

Go to Benin republic and compare the cost of fuel to what you are paying right now and you will wonder how the govt is even able to maintain such pricing without subsidy.

You guys are only angry because the FX subsidy regime is over and this is affecting your import based trading ventures.

So, in your mind, I’ve suddenly become Obidient? Lol

And who told you that your government hasn’t already started intervening to support the naira? Do you genuinely believe the recent appreciation and relative stability of the naira happened solely because the policies are working? Take some time to research why the naira appears more stable and, more importantly, the price being paid to achieve that stability.

Honestly, some of you are quite amusing. You celebrate every headline without bothering to examine what lies beneath it.

Just wait until a second term comes around, oju yin a bo. Then reality may set in. We will repeat this thread then.

If you lived in Lagos during Tinubu’s second term as governor, you might better understand where I’m coming from. Of course, that’s assuming you’re not suffering from selective amnesia and can still remember how things unfolded back then.

“You can convince fifty scholars with a single fact, but you cannot convince a ful with fifty facts.”

ibabz:
On the contrary, what you exhibit goes beyond Stockholm syndrome; it borders on outright bewitchment. I genuinely struggle to understand how someone can continue to praise a government that has made life significantly more difficult for ordinary citizens.

Let’s be clear: state governments do not control the national economy, monetary policy, exchange rates, or the country’s overall security architecture. Those are primarily the responsibilities of the federal government. That doesn’t mean state governments shouldn’t be held accountable, they absolutely should. However, the bulk of the responsibility rests on the desk of the President and the federal administration.

This Tinubulation-led government has mastered the art of shifting responsibility for virtually every problem from the federal government to state governments and even to citizens themselves. Whenever there is a failure, someone else is blamed.

So let me ask you a simple question: what is the one tangible, measurable benefit you are personally enjoying from this government today? Just one. Name it.

If you can point to a single clear improvement in your quality of life that is directly attributable to this government, I will apologize right here and now.

And please, don’t mention NELFUND. Taking loans to access education is not the economic breakthrough you seem to think it is. If anything, many people see it as transferring the burden of funding education onto students rather than making education more affordable and accessible.

Today, just so you know, a kg of LNG is now more than N2k.

If I am bewitched by the Federal Government then you are also bewitched by the state Governors.

Tell me anywhere in my comments where I praise whereas you are the one trying to exonerate the state Governors that are living extravagantly, many of them doing nothing with the FAAC they are collecting like a lot of sensible Individuals have indicated here.

For instance many of them collect billions every month as security votes without buying a single kit or anything to enhance security in their states, a lot of them keep half of the money meant for lgs every month .

You might not be close to some Governors but I am by the virtue of my work and the way they spend our taxes you weep for this country instead of blaming Tinubu using some stupid exchange rates.

Maybe you don’t understand what I’m saying, while trying to blame Tinubu( that is pumping money to states and lgs) for whatever reasons, Governors should also be questioned for many things going on in their states.

I come in peace.

ibabz:
It is both pointless and unproductive to engage in an argument with someone whose entire position is based on AI-generated responses rather than independent thought, facts, and evidence.

One of my favorite quotes says it best: “You can convince fifty scholars with a single fact, but you cannot convince a ful with fifty facts.”

At some point, continuing the debate becomes an exercise in futility. When facts, evidence, and logic no longer matter, the discussion ceases to be a debate and becomes a waste of time.

Why not simply admit that you do not have the depth for this conversation? Anyway, stay blessed.

Parachoko:
This Is Trash

There's a time in this Nigeria Governors couldn't pay salaries or pensions

Unser Asiwaju, Governors are comfortably paying salaries and pensions

Let me ask you one final question.

Since your argument is based on the fact that state governments can pay salaries today, do you believe those same state governments would still be able to sustain salary payments if the minimum wage remained at roughly $100 in value (about ₦150,000 today), despite the increase in FAAC allocations?

When many states struggled to pay salaries in the past, the minimum wage was worth around $100. Today, salaries are easier to pay largely because the value of the wage has been significantly eroded by inflation and currency depreciation. So the real question is: are states truly better funded, or are workers simply being paid wages that are worth far less in dollar terms than before?

Kindledlight:
If I am bewitched by the Federal Government then you are also bewitched by the state Governors.

Tell me anywhere in my comments where I praise whereas you are the one trying to exonerate the state Governors that are living extravagantly, many of them doing nothing with the FAAC they are collecting like a lot of sensible Individuals have indicated here.

For instance many of them collect billions every month as security votes without buying a single kit or anything to enhance security in their states, a lot of them keep half of the money meant for lgs every month .

You might not be close to some Governors but I am by the virtue of my work and the way they spend our taxes you weep for this country instead of blaming Tinubu using some stupid exchange rates.

Maybe you don’t understand what I’m saying, while trying to blame Tinubu( that is pumping money to states and lgs) for whatever reasons, Governors should also be questioned for many things going on in their states.

I come in peace.

I would be a complete fool to blindly support or defend any politician, people who steal public funds to secure wealth for generations yet unborn. That is something I will never do. I do not have any link, connection or relationship with any politician.

My position is simple: with my level of exposure, experience, and analytical thinking, I will never accept beer-parlour propaganda as fact. If you cannot show me, with facts and figures, how state allocations have genuinely increased, then don’t expect me to accept the claim as truth. It is that simple.

Many of you argue that state governments can now pay salaries more easily. But that alone does not prove that allocations have truly increased in real terms.

Let me ask a simple question: if the minimum wage were still worth approximately $100 in real value (about ₦150,000 today), would these same state governments still be able to sustain salary payments despite this so-called increase in allocations?

There is a reason many state governments are already pushing back against proposals for a ₦100,000 minimum wage. If allocations have increased so dramatically, why are they resisting it?

The reality is that paying salaries becomes easier when the purchasing power of those salaries has been drastically reduced.

As the saying goes: “You can convince fifty scholars with one fact, but you cannot convince a fool with fifty facts.”

lionshare:
Why not simply admit that you do not have the depth for this conversation? Anyway, stay blessed.

What depth are you talking about nitori Olorun? The beer-palour propaganda that you are fighting so hard to proof without any fact or data to back your claims? I’m sorry I don’t reason that way.

Every body knows that workers are grossly underpaid except APC/Tinubu and their keyboard warriors and loyalists.

Kindledlight:
If I am bewitched by the Federal Government then you are also bewitched by the state Governors.

Tell me anywhere in my comments where I praise whereas you are the one trying to exonerate the state Governors that are living extravagantly, many of them doing nothing with the FAAC they are collecting like a lot of sensible Individuals have indicated here.

For instance many of them collect billions every month as security votes without buying a single kit or anything to enhance security in their states, a lot of them keep half of the money meant for lgs every month .

You might not be close to some Governors but I am by the virtue of my work and the way they spend our taxes you weep for this country instead of blaming Tinubu using some stupid exchange rates.

Maybe you don’t understand what I’m saying, while trying to blame Tinubu( that is pumping money to states and lgs) for whatever reasons, Governors should also be questioned for many things going on in their states.

I come in peace.

Brother, Tinubu is the head of the Nigerian government so as the state governors are not performing with the increased allocation they are given, don't you think the central government should intervene? I mean insecurity was not this bad in 2012 and the central government was being asked to resign if he couldn't handle the situation then. So what is the difference of what Nigerians are asking now and what obtained in 2012 when the central government was being held accountable for insecurity.

I am not attacking you. I believe we all want a better Nigeria.