You need N28.7m to consider yourself rich in Nigeria –Report

For a Nigerian to break into the one percent population of the wealthy, it will now take a net worth of $70,000 (N28.7 million), according to the latest Knight Frank Wealth Report.

Using the N30,000 minimum wage as a benchmark, it means a working 18-year-old will have to wait 97 years, that is if he plans to save the whole of his salary.

This paints a picture of the rising inequality in the country as many Nigerians continue to battle to survive on daily basis.

Knight Frank report describes wealth as the net assets of a person that includes property, cash, equities, business interests less and liabilities like loans.

But with many Nigerians battling with the soaring price of food items, transportation and other goods and service, hoping to be among the listed few rich can be rightly seen as very ambitious or difficult.

In other parts of Africa, for a Kenyan to join the wealthy it will only take $20,000, while a South African will need as much as $180,000 to join the top one percent in South Africa.

With the threshold of $7.9 million, Monaco is a favorite playground for the super-rich in the world.

Switzerland, famous for its role as a warehouse of the global elite’s wealth, is second with a threshold of $5.1 million. The United States is third with an entry-level of $4.4 million.

The report further showed that there are 231,309 High net worth individuals (HNWI) in Africa with at least $1million (N402 million).

There are also 3,330 Ulta High net worth (UHNW) Individuals with over $30 million a figure that increased from 3,330 in 2015, and 3,127 in 2019. The report expects the figure is expected to grow to 4,361 by 2025.

Out of the HNWI in Africa, Nigeria has 43,571 individuals with $1 million but this represents a drop from 56,444 in 2015 and 53,021 in 2019.

Read also: NLC set for strike in states that refuse to pay N30,000 minimum wage

Nigeria also has 867 UHNWI, an increase from 821 in 2015 and 855 in 2020 a figure expected to grow to 992 by 2025.

These richest in Nigeria are almost exclusively entrepreneurs owning multiple companies and assets in the local market and abroad.

Knight Frank says that a growing inequality is a major challenge for the super-rich, countries and governments, with higher taxes on the wealthy seen as a way to reduce the imbalance around the world.

“Wealth inequality has become starker within countries and globally, particularly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this is likely to become a point of growing contention,” the property consultancy says in the report.

Knight Frank therefore canvases for more wealth taxes to be introduced as governments scramble to cover the huge costs of the pandemic, adding that targeting the wealthy tends to be popular with voters surveyed.

By David Ibemere…

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