Nigerians Spend More On Recharge Cards Than Food

Nigerians may be spending more money to recharge their phones than they spend on feeding, a recent survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the World Bank has showed.
The result of the General Household Panel Survey conducted by the NBS in collaboration with the World Bank Living Standard Measurement Study Group indicated that each household in Nigeria spends an average of N20,874 on recharge cards, N14,620 on food N33, 373 on house rent, N13,860 on petrol, N7,748 and N6,660 on kerosene on a monthly basis.Using the data as a basis to calculate for the entire country showed that on average monthly, Nigerians spend about N449.73 billion on recharge cards, N399.65 on food, N143.3 billion on kerosene, and N149.17 billion on house rent.

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The data also showed that Nigerians hardly use mortgages facilities to pay for their homes, but rather purchase houses directly. According to the data, the amount spent to service mortgages was the least of the expenditure profile of the average Nigerian family with an average of N3.09 billon used monthly as against the monthly estimate of N149.17 billion spent on payment of house rents monthly.
According to the NBS, 5000 households were selected from the NBS’ annual general household database (cross-sectional covering the six geo-political zones) and surveyed to generate the data released in the GHS Panel report for 2012/2013.
Though the data above indicates average expenditure patterns by per household in Nigeria, it was enlarged to cover the entire population in the country.
The NBS estimates that the average Nigerian family had 5.7 people per household. Using a population of 170 million as at year end 2013, an estimated 29.8 million households were gotten for the entire country.