Surviving on a low income: Nigeria

Nigerian Audu, 47, tells the BBC News website how he manages to get by working as a security officer in Lagos.

Audu's farm brings him three times more money than his security job

l work in Lagos but I live in Ibafo, a village outside the city.

I live alone because of my poor financial state. My family is in the village.

I have two small farms - one where I live and the other is where my family are.

Having the farms helps me to reduce poverty.

They serve two purposes. I get a lot of my food from them and I also make money from the crops.

Actually, the money I make from my farms is three times more than what I earn from my security job.

My job at the Lagos news magazine pays me 15,000 naira (US$117) per month.

NIGERIA BASICS IN US$ A loaf of bread = 27c Packet of sugar = $1.17 Bottle of Coca Cola = 27c Do you live on a low income?

I pay 1,000 naira monthly rent. I live in a one-roomed place because I cannot afford to rent more than that.

Every month I send 5,000 naira to my family. It is shared between my two children, my mother, brothers and sisters, and I normally specify how the money is to be spent.

I spend 100 naira daily on transport. It should be much higher but I walk some distance to save costs.

I don't spend money on water because there is a well near my house.

I smoke which costs me 40 naira a day.

I do drink but only drink when I have money. Typically, when I do have some spare, I'll take two bottles of beer with a plate of pepper soup. This sets me back 350 naira.

Audu saves money on his food bills by growing his own vegetables

Last year the only clothes I purchased were two shirts, a pair of shoes and two trousers.

On my farms I grow yam, cocoyam, cassava, maize, pineapples, tomatoes, pepper and a few other vegetables.

If you grow these crops you can never be hungry and cassava is particularly useful because it can be used to make several foods.

There are however some food items that I can't get from my farm and so I have to buy them. These include rice and beans. The others are mainly items for my breakfast like milk, bread, sugar and beverages.

On the average my daily expenses on food is 250 naira but it would be much higher if I didn't have my farms.

There are 128.41 naira to US$1.

AUDU'S MONTHLY BUDGET
Per month	Nigerian Naira	US $
Pay	15,000	117
Farm income	45,000	350
Rent	-1,000	-8
Dependents	-5,000	-39
Electricity	-1,000	-8
Water	0	0
Transport	-2,167	-17
Food	-7,604	-59
Phone	-2,167	-17

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