This is just what Nigerians do when they come over to Canada to earn some average pay and send their money over to Nigeria where they build an investment and then return home after working a while.
Like you pointed out, one has to be frugal in spending like your twenty year old son does. What you call food here can no way be compared to what is available here.
Do you know that an average Nigerian citizen cannot afford poultry products like chicken and even eggs because of inflation? They only have to squeeze themselves hard to buy chicken during festive seasons like Christmas and new year.
Seriously, if I have the opportunity to even be a fruit picker in Canada, I will definitely Japa because I could earn up to $17/hr.
Close on the fruit picker thing. Fruit pickers don't get paid minimum wage. I know because my parents in law pick fruit every summer :) They get paid 600 Naira for every 500g of blueberries they pick. In two to three months they earn maybe 9 Million Naira but they work everyday from dawn until dusk. Then they return to the Philippines where that money goes a lot further than it does in Canada :)
As for what my son eats... Well, he is not a good cook and his girlfriend says he is living on survival rations. One can of tuna, a couple cups of rice and some hot sauce. Meager by Canadian standards but from what I'm hearing not a bad meal by Nigerian ones.....or maybe I'm incorrect, never been to Nigeria.
Personally if I was in Nigeria I think I'd have go make fast friends with beans .. tasty, nutritious and not as expensive as chicken :)