By Jimmy
Once upon a time, one could walk into a restaurant with ₦100 and order a full plate of food, eat and come out with change in the pocket. Travel back a few decades, and you could stock your house for months with a fraction of that amount.
In fact, according to our elderly ones, there was even a time when you could buy cars and rent houses, or even travel out of the country with ₦100.
The last scenario beggars the imagination of the current generation, thanks to inflation and the devaluation of the Naira. Nigeria has eight currency denominations, but the lower ones are quickly becoming obsolete as things get more expensive. ₦5, ₦10 and ₦20 notes will soon belong in museums, since they can practically buy nothing in the current economy, and ₦50 is quickly on its way to join this obsolete group.
₦100 also doesn’t seem far behind.
SEE: No one should refuse old naira notes as means of payment – CBN
Let’s make a list of the things that you can buy with ₦100 in Nigeria today:
- Few cubes of maggi (seasoning)
- Salt
- 10 sachets of water
- One egg
- A sachet of milk and equivalent beverages
- Two coaster biscuits
- A handful of pepper (rodo or tomatoes, not both)
- Gala and small La Casera (one of each, not both)
- Sugar and groundnut (one of each)
- One packet of noodles
- A bottle of water
- Airtime for maybe one call
As seen from the list above, ₦100’s capacity has been limited to just basic food ingredients, and just even a measly percentage at that. Whereas, it was usually enough to cover a significant portion, such as buying a whole spaghetti or even half a de rica of rice. Even condom is now ₦150.
What else did we miss?
