₦airaland Forum

A man whose father bought a Merceds Benz car in 1975 has revealed that the car was bought for only a sum of N5000 at the time.
Back in the days, the naira had so much value and one could buy really great properties with a few of the currency.
All that has now changed!

Good old days

Do you know the value of that 5k in those days? That 5k was not the regular 5k you have these days. That 5k would buy a land in a nice location those days.

Economic realities

i wish our currency can have such values again. chai!!

fluffybaby:
Do you know the value of that 5k in those days? That 5k was not the regular 5k you have these days. That 5k would buy a land in a nice location those days.

can Nigeria ever experience such value in her currency again?

Hefemale:
Good old days

i dey tells u. i still remember d 25kobo and 10kobo. i remember wen a cup of garri was 2 naira. chai!!

As at 1975 ...N1.00 = $1.62 or put another way $0.616 = N1
Which implies that N5000 in 1975 was about $8116.88
Fastforward to 2015 $8116.88 IN 1975 has a real value of $35,807.21 that's about 341.1% cumulative inflation rate .

Hence, that N5000 is equivalent to about N7,123,840 now . so if some people could afford N5000 worth of a car then , how many Nigerians can afford a car costing about N7M now . This goes to show that our purchasing power has really being bastardised and labour and economic units are not being fairly remunerated .

In real terms our economy has really gone down the drains

franktolk:
As at 1975 ...N1.00 = $1.62 or put another way $0.616 = N1
Which implies that N5000 in 1975 was about $8116.88
Fastforward to 2015 $8116.88 IN 1975 has a real value of $35,807.21 that's about 341.1% cumulative inflation rate .

Hence, that N5000 is equivalent to about N7,123,840 now . so if some people could afford N5000 worth of a car then , how many Nigerians can afford a car costing about N7M now . This goes to show that our purchasing power has really being bastardised and labour and economic units are not being fairly remunerated .

In real terms our economy has really gone down the drains

are u kidding me wif those figures? like seriously?? so the Net present value of 5000k then is over 7m now?? chisos! Am dead alwedi!

franktolk:
As at 1975 ...N1.00 = $1.62 or put another way $0.616 = N1
Which implies that N5000 in 1975 was about $8116.88
Fastforward to 2015 $8116.88 IN 1975 has a real value of $35,807.21 that's about 341.1% cumulative inflation rate .

Hence, that N5000 is equivalent to about N7,123,840 now . so if some people could afford N5000 worth of a car then , how many Nigerians can afford a car costing about N7M now . This goes to show that our purchasing power has really being bastardised and labour and economic units are not being fairly remunerated .

In real terms our economy has really gone down the drains

as much as your calculations are correct, i doubt "many" people in Nigeria could afford a ₦5K car, when the monthly salaries in that era were about ₦100

maspero22:
can Nigeria ever experience such value in her currency again?

Yes Nigeria can. But you have to realise that even then, that 5k was a very big deal. Yes we agree that economy is bad in Nigeria but lets not act like most nigerians could afford that car at that price. Even then, 5k was A LOT of money.
It would have been different if they compared the purchasing power of the salary of income earners then and now. That is what I am itching to see. Or what the average civil servant enjoyed as benefits from the government compared to what they enjoy now. Or the quality of education and facilities provided by the govt in school compared to today.
We all know our money has lost value but still that 5k was a lot of money then for an average Nigerian.

it all depends on who you are asking.... but the minimum wage wasnt much back in 1975:

MRBrownJ:
it all depends on who you are asking.... but the minimum wage wasnt much back in 1975:

It is glaring from the graph you posted that Minimum wage in Nigeria has not grown with inflation or consumer price index . An average Nigerian worker has been left worse off and to make up for the shortfall they fall back on corrupt practices to make ends meet . I am not really an advocate for sharp increase in minimum wage because every previous attempt tends to exacerbate inflation rate .Cheap labour is actually an impetus for mass production ,investment and foreign direct investments . However government would have to improve socio economic infrastructures like motorable roads, rail,electricity,modern agro allied industries, better health care services at all levels and sustainable and basic education across board. With these things in place the citizenry will be able to live a contented life .

MRBrownJ:
it all depends on who you are asking.... but the minimum wage wasnt much back in 1975:

yes, that's true. they were earning meagre sums. but one thing was sure, d average household survived on the family income then because of the purchasing power of naira unlike now that a loaf of bread will soon be sold for 1 million naira.

[quote author=fluffybaby post=41216304]Yes Nigeria can. But you have to realise that even then, that 5k was a very big deal. Yes we agree that economy is bad in Nigeria but lets not act like most nigerians could afford that car at that price. Even then, 5k was A LOT of money.
It would have been different if they compared the purchasing power of the salary of income earners then and now. That is what I am itching to see. Or what the average civil servant enjoyed as benefits from the government compared to what they enjoy now. Or the quality of education and facilities provided by the govt in school compared to today.
We all know our money has lost value but still that 5k was a lot of money then for an average Nigerian.
u are right yea