Please pay attention to this receipt from a grocery store in Lagos. I bought a 12 pack Heineken and some other items for a total of N3,760.00 That is the equivalent of less than $8.00. In my neck of the woods in Washington DC, a 12 pack of Heineken is about $15.00. But here affordability and poverty are two different things. On one hand, people here complain of unemployment but have the taste for imported goods. The Nigerian economy is hard to analyze because it does not follow the dictates of demand and supply. You could see an array of imported vehicles for sale sitting for months, yet the prices don’t come down in negotiation. Same applies to buildings and empty warehouses, yet the asking price does not come down. A young single female cannot rent an apartment without been accompanied by a boyfriend or husband. So there is a renta-boyfriend for rental purposes. I’m still trying to figure it out.
