What really is a billion naira?

It is normal for humans to relate sums of money with their present problems or desires. When the news headlines talk about billions of naira, it is hard for the common man to relate with the figures because he doesn’t have problems that require billions to solve.

A billion naira is simply a million naira in a thousand places. To help you visualize billions better, below are some of the things a billion naira can do.

If you choose 2 lines then that is 2 billion naira. Hope you get the gist?

Thinking Housing, 1 billion naira can get:
 * 1000 years of rent if your landlord charges 1 million per year
 * 5 years of rent for 400 apartments each costing 500,000 naira per year
 * 2 of Linda Ikeji’s Banana Island house
 * 4 of Ordinary 5-bedroom Duplex+BQ in Maitama, Abuja
 * 830,000 of Cement bags

Thinking expensive Education, 1 billion naira can pay for:
 * 250 years School fees in Abuja’s most expensive primary schools
 * 150 Correct MBAs in some of the world’s top business schools

Thinking personal Transportation, 1 billion naira can buy:
 * 250 of Brand New Toyota Hilux
 * 400 of Clean 2010 Tokunbo Toyota Corolla
 * 167 of Clean 2013 Tokunbo Honda Accord

Thinking clean Water, 1 billion naira can get:
 * 500 of Solar-powered bore holes with storage tank

Thinking food, 1 billion naira can get:
 * 1400 sets of Micro Irrigation system for small-medium scale dry-season farming. That’s like 2 for every local government area in the country.

Thinking fast Internet anywhere in Nigeria at today’s expensive prices, 1 billion naira can get:
 * 155Mbps full duplex connection for every State Government Secretariat or ICT park
 * 50,000 of “Unlimited” 1-month 4G subscription in Lagos/Abuja

For security reasons, I will not disclose what kind of military hardware you can honestly buy with 1 billion naira.

The next time you hear that 1 billion naira has been stolen (or is to be wasted on some low priortiy activity), you can relate it to something that would have made more sense.
 By the way, a trillion naira is just a billion naira in a thousand places.