On May 5, 2026, during a members-only Coffee Hangout organized by Kay’s Hikers Club in Abuja, Tope Fasua, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Economic Affairs, engaged in a tense exchange with attendees. A female participant expressed frustration over the declining purchasing power of citizens, noting that basics like food have become unaffordable and citing the drastic increase in the price of tomatoes over the years.
In his response, Fasua urged citizens not to exaggerate the country’s economic woes and advocated for disciplined spending. During this exchange, he made the statement that went viral:
“A modest family will feed for several days with ₦10,000.”
He further advised Nigerians to “cut your coat according to your cloth,” noting that while things are more expensive, prudent spending and buying foodstuffs to cook at home could help citizens cope.
The Clarification
Following heavy public backlash, Fasua issued a clarification on May 10, 2026. He stated that the viral two-second video clip was taken out of context by sensational media reporting.
He clarified two key points:
- “Person,” not “Family”: He claimed it was a slip of the tongue and that he meant to say ₦10,000 could feed a person for several days, not a family.
- Rural Context: He stated that his benchmark was based on the cost of living in rural Nigeria, rather than major urban centers like Abuja or Lagos. He maintained that he immediately corrected himself during the two-hour session.
Present-Day Economic Reality (May 2026)
To appraise Fasua’s statement—even with his subsequent clarifications—it must be weighed against actual market data from May 2026:
- The Cost of a Single Meal: According to a May 2026 report by SBM Intelligence (The Jollof Index), the average cost of preparing just one pot of jollof rice for a family of five has surged to ₦30,435. In cities like Abuja, it exceeds ₦36,000.
- Staple Food Prices: The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that in March 2026, the average price of a 50kg bag of local rice reached ₦112,000, while foreign rice hit roughly ₦134,000.
- Energy and Logistics: The skyrocketing cost of food is deeply tied to logistics. With petrol prices above ₦1,300 per liter and diesel exceeding ₦1,500 in major cities due to global energy shocks, the cost of transporting food from rural farms to urban markets has heavily inflated retail prices.
Is He Out of Touch?
The Initial Claim: The assertion that ₦10,000 could feed a family for several days is completely detached from statistical reality. When a single basic meal for a family costs over ₦30,000, ₦10,000 would not even cover the ingredients for a family’s lunch for a single day.
The Clarified Claim: Even his revised statement—that ₦10,000 can feed a single person for several days in a rural area—is heavily stretched. While rural food prices are lower than urban ones due to proximity to farms, the baseline costs of cooking essentials (like cooking oil, proteins, and seasoning, which are largely affected by national inflation) make surviving on ₦10,000 for “several days” a scenario of extreme rationing rather than “modest” living.
The Verdict on Leadership Perception: Fasua’s initial comment resonated poorly because it echoed a recurring frustration among Nigerians: the perception that the political class minimizes the daily economic struggles of the populace. When officials urge citizens to “cut their coat according to their cloth” while minimizing the severity of food inflation, it often comes across as tone-deaf to the reality that many citizens no longer have “cloth” left to cut.
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