SURVEY: Nigerians Spend More On Recharge Cards Than Food

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 averagemonthly, 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.
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.