Omokri made the statement while appearing on Sunday Politics, where he discussed Nigeria’s rising cost of living and the use of international poverty benchmarks.
He said he recently visited markets with a journalist, without security personnel, to personally assess the prices of basic food items, including yam, rice, maize and fruits.
According to him, his assessment showed that ₦3,000 could provide enough for a Nigerian to live on for a day, although he acknowledged that the same amount would be considered inadequate in countries such as 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.
The ambassador-designate also questioned how international poverty measurements should be applied to Nigeria, arguing that global benchmarks do not necessarily reflect the realities of people living in different economies.
Responding to a question about the World Bank’s poverty benchmark, which he described as an international standard based on daily income, Omokri said the institution was simply applying a global measure.
“The World Bank is using a global benchmark. And they’ve always used it?” he added.
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