By Robinson T. Sibe
The Nigerian minimum wage of N18,000, clearly, cannot support “minimal living”. Yet, it’s remained unchanged for 7 years, while other macroeconomic parameters raced past it. When the N18,000 was signed into law in 2011, Inflation stood at approximately 10.85% and Naira exchanged at N162 to a dollar. By 2017, Inflation stood at 16.5% and Naira exchanged at about N365 to a dollar.
The implication of this is that Nigeria’s minimum wage “decreased” in dollar terms over this period; decreasing from $111 in 2011 to $49 in 2018. As an import dependent economy, you know the implication of this.
Therefore, no sane person will question the Organized Labour for requesting an upward review. With an N18,000 minimum wage, the worker is condemned to be corrupt, in order to make ends meet. The truth is even the N30,000 compromise figure cannot take care of a family of 3.
I’m glad that a resolution was reached, and a unanimous figure accepted. The strike would have come at great cost to the economy; one that’s already bruised and battered. By calling off the strike, the nation was saved the ordeal of 1968; when I take leg waka go Lagos 😂
Finally, like the Holy Book said, “to whom much is given, much is expected”. Nigeria has arguably one of the most unproductive work force in the world. We need to sanitize our payrolls, trim down the size and re-organize our public service to be more productive. A new minimum wage should come with minimum expectations that should be met. Make civil servants no dey carry their egusi come dey peel for office again.
Robinson T. Sibe is a software engineer, geospatial expert, prolific writer, social commentator and political analyst.
