{"id":2809,"date":"2013-04-29T08:28:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T08:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/nigeria-spends-n9-4b-on-champagne-2\/"},"modified":"2013-04-29T08:28:14","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T08:28:14","slug":"nigeria-spends-n9-4b-on-champagne-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-spends-n9-4b-on-champagne-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria spends N9.4b on Champagne"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To them, it is just one of their favourite pastimes. But popping champagne is becoming more than a habit of the rich; it is putting this country in the record books.<\/p>\n

Nigeria spent N9.4billion ($ 59 million) on consumption of champagne last year, a report by the AFP has said.<\/p>\n

Recent data puts Nigeria among the fastest-growing countries for champagne consumption, spending an estimated N9.4billion ($ 59 million) last year on bubbly, according to Euromonitor International research firm.<\/p>\n

That number is up from N7.84 billion ($ 49 million) in 2011, and the firm forecasts that the country will spend some N616.8 billion ($ 105 million) on fizz in 2017.<\/p>\n

Analysts say oil wealth, hip-hop, movie stars and an elite obsessed with status symbols have driven demand.<\/p>\n

One Euromonitor analysis using data from about a year and a half ago forecast Nigeria, Africa\u2019s largest oil producer, as having the world\u2019s second-highest growth in new champagne consumption from 2011-2016, trailing only France.<\/p>\n

The study showed 849,000 litres in new consumption during that timeframe in Nigeria, Africa\u2019s most populous nation with a huge gap between its rich and poor.<\/p>\n

Euromonitor senior analyst Spiros Malandrakis said the figures have since come down somewhat, with projections around 500,000 litres in new consumption from 2012-2017, which would still keep Nigeria in the upper tier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s among the top markets for the future of champagne,\u201d Malandrakis told AFP.<\/p>\n

Malandrakis said one aspect of Nigeria\u2019s market seemed to set it apart from countries such as China, where champagne producers have banked on an emerging middle class to drive growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case of Nigeria as far as I understand, we have a very divided society with big sections of the population in the working class,\u201d he said, while the elite \u201chave the money to spend on really extravagant consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil barons and Nigeria\u2019s movie industry, known as Nollywood, have especially helped drive growth, he said, while hip-hop has also played a role.<\/p>\n

US hip-hop stars with global appeal have long promoted their love of bubbly \u2014 and Nigeria\u2019s homegrown music scene has toasted it as well.<\/p>\n

Prices at clubs can vary widely here, with a standard bottle of Moet & Chandon running around N19,200 ($ 120), while bottles of Cristal can come in at 144,000 ($ 900) or more. Store prices tend to be much lower.<\/p>\n

Nigeria has long been considered one of the world\u2019s most corrupt nations, with billions in oil revenue pocketed and misused over the years, while basic development has been neglected.<\/p>\n

Such spending on champagne is particularly striking when considered against World Bank calculations from 2009-2010 showing some 63 per cent of Nigerians live on less than N160 ($ 1 dollar) per day.<\/p>\n

Data from the same years, the latest available, shows 46 percent of the country\u2019s population living in poverty, a slight decrease from 48 percent in 2003-2004.<\/p>\n

However, the decrease is less than population growth, meaning more people live in poverty today than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

The gap between the rich and poor has also been growing, with a scale measuring inequality moving from 0.39 in 2003-2004 to 0.42 in 2009-2010. Zero represents complete equality on the scale, while one is absolute inequality.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy international comparisons, that\u2019s fairly high, but not out of the range of other countries,\u201d said John Litwack, the World Bank\u2019s lead economist for Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Some members of Nigeria\u2019s class of super-rich would likely have not have participated in the survey, possibly distorting the figures to a certain degree, he said.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: The Nation Newspaper<\/p>\n

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