Strike: Nigerians spend over $2bn on gambling, they should not complain about subsidy removal —Omokri

A former presidential spokesperson, Reno Omokri, has in a bid to justify the ongoing hardship being experienced by Nigerians as a result of the recent removal of fuel subsidy claims that Nigerians spend $2 billion annually on gambling.

Omokri in a tweet on Monday claimed that the with most Nigerians was not poverty. According to him, the major problem of Nigerians was misplaced priority.

“Before you conclude that Nigerians need fuel subsidy because petrol is too expensive, please be aware that according to Gallup Polls, Nigerians spend $2 billion (not Naira, dollars) annually gambling on sports betting, of which we only win less than $200 million. In other words, we are pudding away $1.8 billion. This is about the same amount of money our government was spending on fuel subsidy annually,” Omokri said.

“If you remove emotions and study pure empirical data about how and where Nigerians spend their money, you won’t even listen to the Joe Ajaero-led Nigerian Labour Congress’s calls for a nationwide strike. Yes, Nigeria is not the wealthiest country on Earth, but our major problem is priority, not poverty. And fuel subsidy removal will force us as a people to prioritise our monies to achieve better outcomes in our lives, as well as give governments at various levels an opportunity to spend public funds on infrastructure and social services, like education, that will help Nigerians make better financial decisions than spending our monies on gambling, pornography, and Ponzi schemes,” he added.

His comment comes in the wake of planned industrial action that has been scheduled for Wednesday, August 2nd 2023.