NewStats: 3,265,259 , 8,186,149 topics. Date: Saturday, 14 June 2025 at 06:33 AM 6k6d6u

That list was equally expensive even at that time because some people earned below N100.00 as salary. So for that person to afford N100.00 on those items means he/she belongs to the category of people they called Senior service then. The difference between now and then is that the Naira was very powerful and prices of commodities were affordable. With N10.00 you could prepare a delicious meal. I earning N50.00 as a teacher in a private Secondary Commercial School then and life was good.

Ngaljau11:
what makes you guys think there was ever a time when Nigeria was better
if that woman were to be alive and you get to hear her side of the story of how she earned that 100 naira kya
how many families back then do you think were able to afford that
if things were cheap back then, why didn't everybody lived a happy life
if a car was sold at 30naira and we think it's cheap and a better Niger, then why is it that not all parents were able to afford it
the truth Niger had never been better, just that generations keep modifying same as the currencies

The only good thing about life then was that most people live within their means,eat well with less show off.Most Iive modestly in face to face apartment,fewer private schools when public schools care for primary and secondary educational needs. Fueling of generators,cable subscription,data subscription were non existence.Marriage solemnization was cheap and simple before Ojora nouveau rich marriage opened the flood gate of expensive marriages in Nigeria.

I no longer see kids in cities walk barefoot, in torn underwear or tattered clothes.Nigerians of today are richer but wasteful,showy and don't eat well. Truly they don't eat well,repeating same type of food like every day. Hotels and other entertainment outlets spring up daily to collect the little they have

KingLennon:
Family men with 3 kids and above, you are a legend. You are really trying in this hard time .
Even as a single guy, e no dey funny

Just me and my wife it’s not funny

nairalanda1:


Yes, and it still doesn't change the fact that things were hard in the 1980s and things are hard under APC

@nairalanda1 hello, please do you have a soft copy or link to that book you talked about earlier, written by Adichie (Americanah)?

ekitimanalways:

If truly you were a university student in the 80s, you should know that the monthly minimum wage was 125 Naira not 80 Naira. At the prevailing exchange rate of ₦0. 61/$1, this was equivalent to $204.92 a month.

In 1980, the minimum wage was N45 if my memory serves me right. My monthly allowance at the Polytechnic was N35 per month and lived like a king. From Abeokuta to Oshodi, bus fare was 40 kobo. A carton of 33 beer was N1 and a bottle was sold for 10 kobo. Five Geisha was N1 and other brands, you’ll get six.

CodeTemplar:
That can be a 2024 stunt written on old note.

I still have some of my late dad's notebooks from the 1980s and diaries...there are records of stuffs with unbelievable prices.

When I travel to my village, I get pissed reading 1980s newspapers. It leaves me furiously mad with questions like "Wetin happen to Nigeria?" "Who did we offend?" "Our slave really jealous and had to mess our economy up?" "Maybe our leaders became greedy with time?"

Cantonese:



Stop being economical with the truth please. That list must have been made at about 1988. Earlier than then in about 1980, the prices would have been cheaper. For your information, as of 1983, a 12.5 kg of gas was at 2.50 kobo.

The minimum wage as of those periods when that list was made revolved between 125 naira and 300 naira, depending on the year referred in that decade. There are payslips to show.

Even at that, life was much better. There was dignity. There was honor. There was integrity. There was peace and satisfaction.

Abeg make we hear something!

''There was this there was that!''

There was NOTHING!

Fela was singing all those stuff because he was imagining them in his head, abi?

Look at Lagos today - BRT, air conditioned trains, Uber, even market women with Iphone.

How many people had telephones (landline) back then?

Only the creme de la creme of society!

So if you wanted to see a business partner on the Island, you will ENTER MOLUE with heavy go-slow of 3 hrs before you reach Island, and when you reach your guy's office, they will tell you he has travelled!

Back to Molue for return journey to mainland. Whole day wasted.

Does that happen today? NO.

You will call to confirm. Simple thing.

And before you credit 'technology', that in developed countries, EVERYBODY had a landline telephone back then.

But in Nigeria, only the very rich had it.

So no communication, except you move around by DANFO or MOLUE.

If you find sitting space, you're a lucky man (49 sitting 99 standing, apologies Fela)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y--5IlljO78&ab_channel=Hogan523

Ngaljau11:
what makes you guys think there was ever a time when Nigeria was better
if that woman were to be alive and you get to hear her side of the story of how she earned that 100 naira kya
how many families back then do you think were able to afford that
if things were cheap back then, why didn't everybody lived a happy life
if a car was sold at 30naira and we think it's cheap and a better Niger, then why is it that not all parents were able to afford it
the truth Niger had never been better, just that generations keep modifying same as the currencies

Please, look for 1980s newspapers and read.
Meet old and learned people to tell you how life was then.
People lived more happier and even eat healthier meal.

There was a time Nigeria was way better. The naira rate was strangest in the 80s. Our fathers, mothers, Uncles and Aunts rocked life in the 1980s, bro. I dey envy them sometimes.

Kaido:

Please, look for 1980s newspapers and read.
Meet old and learned people to tell you how life was then.
People lived more happier and even eat healthier meal.

There was a time Nigeria was way better. The naira rate was strangest in the 80s. Our fathers, mothers, Uncles and Aunts rocked life in the 1980s, bro. I dey envy them sometimes.

Anywhere you go in the world, the old folks will tell you the same thing. That things were 'much better' in their time.

It's just nostalgia, and human nature. It's an illusion.

Most young Nigerians today if sent back to the 1980s, could not cope.

Back then I meat was so expensive.

We only had one or two small pieces of meat per plate, and we were middle class o!

So I don't know how the poor coped.

Today, guys buy plates of food with ''assorted meat''. Or 2 big chunks of meat/pomo etc that would cover the whole plate!

Nothing like that in those days bro. Na one or two small meat, unless you be rich man.

Even rice was a special thing you ate only on Sunday.

Abeg forget mehn...

Everything here is too expensive, they are all fake, in 1980, you should use maybe just #20-40 for everything and they still will be too much. All fake, don't believe everything in social Media.

IntelLord:


@nairalanda1 hello, please do you have a soft copy or link to that book you talked about earlier, written by Adichie (Americanah)?

AMERICANAH PDF COPY

(May require registration to .)

Blitzerz:

The same 80s when civil servants could buy new peugeot cars from PAN and send their children to school without begging?

You are not up to date.

They could with the aid of something called a car loan which had to be paid back.

(I know, after all I was there).

Cars are in a way more expensive because of all the fancy electronics in them. Plus, eventually the reason why we don't manufacture cars in Nigeria is largely because all the cars assembled in Nigeria...we had to bring in all the parts from oversease. We don't have a large number of people across the country making the small parts needed to go into a car, and as cars have gotten more complex, we may never have them.

That is why making new cars in Nigeria is more expensive than importing second hand Toyotas and others. Innoson is trying, but he still has to import small parts and other things from oversease.

jazzman7711:
Yawn….

Minimum wage then was 80 naira a month.

So that list doesn’t prove anything.

Children posting rubbish.

Back then those prices were expensive for the common man.

Even in the 1980s, my pocket money for a whole semester at university was 500 naira, and it was more than enough for everything including catching cruise, shacking beer daily, buying weed, chasing babes, everything.

If you guys don't have something serious to post, go and find something useful to do with yourselves.

Minimum wage back then was 80naira, Your pocket money was 500. You must be from a very wealthy family then. So how much was now your school fees?

nairalanda1:


AMERICANAH PDF COPY

(May require registration to .)

I have acquired the book now. Thanks so much. 🤝👍

cosade:


In 1980, the minimum wage was N45 if my memory serves me right. My monthly allowance at the Polytechnic was N35 per month and lived like a king. From Abeokuta to Oshodi, bus fare was 40 kobo. A carton of 33 beer was N1 and a bottle was sold for 10 kobo. Five Geisha was N1 and other brands, you’ll get six.

Please note that the first national minimum wage Act of 1981 prescribed a minimum wage of N125 per month. This was revised in 1991 to N250 per month, revised again in 2000 to N5,500 per month, and in 2011 to N18,000 per month…

CodeTemplar:
That can be a 2024 stunt written on old note.

1984

inoki247:
Lol doz years how many people make am....


Cement was so cheap and people are still building mud house and Face me and Face u house ...



Now things are cost buh people can still afford dem you will hardly see someone with face me and face you plan this days everybody that can afford cement wants to build flat or mansion...



If dem tell most of you always doing this comparison to go back in time to doz Years you won't spend a week before you run back to this present year....

you sound so foolish and childish. how can you say everyone was building face me and faceyou in the 1980s when you were born in th 2000s. my friend go back and read your books. you're still a kid

jazzman7711:


Anywhere you go in the world, the old folks will tell you the same thing. That things were 'much better' in their time.

It's just nostalgia, and human nature. It's an illusion.

Most young Nigerians today if sent back to the 1980s, could not cope.

Back then I meat was so expensive.

We only had one or two small pieces of meat per plate, and we were middle class o!

So I don't know how the poor coped.

Today, guys buy plates of food with ''assorted meat''. Or 2 big chunks of meat/pomo etc that would cover the whole plate!

Nothing like that in those days bro. Na one or two small meat, unless you be rich man.

Even rice was a special thing you ate only on Sunday.

Abeg forget mehn...

you werent middle class. your parents were poor. speak the truth, what was their income and how much was rice and meat. you're just saying nonsense. and how many people today can afford rice and meat on a steady. . yo're speaking like a village illitrate and generalizing rubbish

jazzman7711:


Abeg make we hear something!

''There was this there was that!''

There was NOTHING!

Fela was singing all those stuff because he was imagining them in his head, abi?

Look at Lagos today - BRT, air conditioned trains, Uber, even market women with Iphone.

How many people had telephones (landline) back then?

Only the creme de la creme of society!

So if you wanted to see a business partner on the Island, you will ENTER MOLUE with heavy go-slow of 3 hrs before you reach Island, and when you reach your guy's office, they will tell you he has travelled!

Back to Molue for return journey to mainland. Whole day wasted.

Does that happen today? NO.

You will call to confirm. Simple thing.

And before you credit 'technology', that in developed countries, EVERYBODY had a landline telephone back then.

But in Nigeria, only the very rich had it.

So no communication, except you move around by DANFO or MOLUE.

If you find sitting space, you're a lucky man (49 sitting 99 standing, apologies Fela)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y--5IlljO78&ab_channel=Hogan523

lol tech is the most cheapest thing today. you can buy a chinko techno iphone for 20k. nothing special. in the 80s it was expensive because it was new and it was very heavy. a landline was as expensive as iphone 15. tech is so cheap now.

jazzman7711:


Abeg make we hear something!

''There was this there was that!''

There was NOTHING!

Fela was singing all those stuff because he was imagining them in his head, abi?

Look at Lagos today - BRT, air conditioned trains, Uber, even market women with Iphone.

How many people had telephones (landline) back then?

Only the creme de la creme of society!

So if you wanted to see a business partner on the Island, you will ENTER MOLUE with heavy go-slow of 3 hrs before you reach Island, and when you reach your guy's office, they will tell you he has travelled!

Back to Molue for return journey to mainland. Whole day wasted.

Does that happen today? NO.

You will call to confirm. Simple thing.

And before you credit 'technology', that in developed countries, EVERYBODY had a landline telephone back then.

But in Nigeria, only the very rich had it.

So no communication, except you move around by DANFO or MOLUE.

If you find sitting space, you're a lucky man (49 sitting 99 standing, apologies Fela)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y--5IlljO78&ab_channel=Hogan523

you're defintely an arrogant and ignorant kid. which one is travel to see a bsiness partner? just send letters to him or her. people used to send letters that has been replaced by calls and sms. that is nothing special. those who lived in both times are telling you so and you're saying it's a lie when you've only lived in this era how can you know how things were.? children on these days are just too rude.

ekitimanalways:


Please note that the first national minimum wage Act of 1981 prescribed a minimum wage of N125 per month. This was revised in 1991 to N250 per month, revised again in 2000 to N5,500 per month, and in 2011 to N18,000 per month…

You meant to say the first negotiated national minimum wage through collective bargaining by labour unions, government and other stakeholders. Before 1981, governments have been fixing minimum wages.

Search for the “Wage Board and Industrial Council Act No. 1 of 1973” where statutory minimum wage was clearly defined. As a result of this Act, “Udoji Salary Award” (Owo Udoji) was paid to government workers and some of the private sector employers also did same.

Omoawoke:
Days when women submit to their husbands
Days when marriage rarely breaks

Days when husbands used to beat their wives like nursery 1 pupil!!!

voiceoftheupcom:
Nigerian housewife’s 1980s grocery list goes viral

In the 1980s, a Nigerian housewife made a shopping list that cost ₦94 and included rice, beans, yam, cassava, meat, and several other goods. This list generated discussion on social media.

The video, with the caption, “A 1980s housewife’s grocery list,” A list that reads, “She has ₦100 to spend,” includes rice, beans, meat, cassava, sugar, bread, milk, and a few other goods that could all be purchased for a fraction of the amount they would cost today—between ₦1 and ₦10. Eyes Of Lagos reports,

The list, totaling ₦94 for all items, attracted attention online as many commented on the cost of living in the 1980s compared to the present.

See some reactions below:

Dude: “Dollar was $1 to N1. Today it’s same as going to the market withN155,000.”

Dennis Nathan: “Why couldn’t we continue with this economy? It’s common over Europe that’s to tell a country is working.”

Hakeem: “So the person kept his market list since 84 till date? Easy abeg.”

king_Greezly: “and na still these old men and women wey write stuff like this, come spoil am for this time.”

victormorrow38: “Lies to gain traffic. What brand of sugar was sold @2.80k per packet in 1980?So a packet of sugar cost more than a bag of cement i sold 2.00 naira.”

https://eyesoflagos.com/2024/04/15/nigerian-housewifes-1980s-grocery-list-goes-viral/

If any of you had the consciousness to be aware of the 80's you would understand that even this prices, as little as they look now, where actually quite expensive.

Imagine buying yams at 14 naira.

Brand new Volkswagen Bettl was 1,440 naira
Peugeot 504....2,450 naira (Brand New oooo)

Just so you can have things in proper perspective.

No be today Nigeria begin spoil. E don taaaaaaayyyyy

cosade:


In 1980, the minimum wage was N45 if my memory serves me right. My monthly allowance at the Polytechnic was N35 per month and lived like a king. From Abeokuta to Oshodi, bus fare was 40 kobo. A carton of 33 beer was N1 and a bottle was sold for 10 kobo. Five Geisha was N1 and other brands, you’ll get six.

The public sector monthly minimum wage in Nigeria in 1970 was ₦18 ( or $25) and by 1974 it had been raised to ₦60 (₦1/$228) when Nigeria’s economy was doing well during its first oil boom. ₦60 in 1974 was equivalent to about ₦90,000 in 2017.

700k built a 2 storey building then. I use the same amount to pay one year rent now.

Yoruba and Hausa don liquidate this country beyond measures, and them no wan comot hand still

Okay. You sound right.
But he said in Eroupe(over-seas), their ecoomy still maintain their prices over the years.
Why is our own always the opposite.

jazzman7711:
Yawn….

Minimum wage then was 80 naira a month.

So that list doesn’t prove anything.

Children posting rubbish.

Back then those prices were expensive for the common man.

Even in the 1980s, my pocket money for a whole semester at university was 500 naira, and it was more than enough for everything including catching cruise, shacking beer daily, buying weed, chasing babes, everything.

If you guys don't have something serious to post, go and find something useful to do with yourselves.

Why is inflation increasing in nigeria? But in europe, their economy presently is almost the same thing with 1980s economy.

Fesco:
That list was equally expensive even at that time because some people earned below N100.00 as salary. So for that person to afford N100.00 on those items means he/she belongs to the category of people they called Senior service then. The difference between now and then is that the Naira was very powerful and prices of commodities were affordable. With N10.00 you could prepare a delicious meal. I earning N50.00 as a teacher in a private Secondary Commercial School then and life was good.

Sombody should tell me why nigeria inflation is going up and that of european countries are still stable over the years. What are the white-men countries doing that we are not doing?

Anybody pls?

Damn! Yam was so expensive

Before BABANGIDA and co scattered it.

jazzman7711:
Yawn….

Minimum wage then was 80 naira a month.

So that list doesn’t prove anything.

Children posting rubbish.

Back then those prices were expensive for the common man.

Even in the 1980s, my pocket money for a whole semester at university was 500 naira, and it was more than enough for everything including catching cruise, shacking beer daily, buying weed, chasing babes, everything.

If you guys don't have something serious to post, go and find something useful to do with yourselves.

can your present minimum wage buy those stuff on the list?

Wetin make we use the list do, forward ever backward never...