Minimum Wage, Maximum Struggle.

The minimum wage in Nigeria as of today is ₦77,000, and you and I know both know that it's nothing. Funniest part is some states in Nigeria still struggle to pay that amount while there are some that are not even paying it. Not to talk of the various private institutions we have in our country today, talk of schools, supermarkets, factories and the likes, they as well find it so hard to pay that minimum wage. Now, there are two real facts concerning the minimum wage, one is that the money is nothing to write home about as it cannot sustain you, and when second is that most organizations still find it hard to pay that same amount that cannot and isn't enough to sustain even those that are receiving it.

I'm sure even a non-nigerian will be able to relate with us, our struggles and plight are known far and wide. Prices of things are nothing to write home about, transportation cost has tripled, no electricity, price of fuel has skyrocketed, minimum wage is not enough to rent a single room apartment and even our basic needs cannot be met by the minimum wage. And when you ask us what we do just to live, I can tell you for free that a lot of us are combining multiple jobs together just to be able to survive, more reason why we Nigerians have the shortest span of life to live. You will hardly see a salary earner that's not combining two or more other side hustles just so he/she would be able to meet simple needs, not live a life of luxury o.... all of us are just managing and trying to survive each day as it comes.

And talking of "what if the minimum wage doubles or triples," to me it does not still looks like the whole solution to things, because the economy is not stable. Prices of things hasn't stopped going up, and the moment there's a slight increase in salary, just trust that the prices of everything will follow suit. At the moment, fuel is ₦1,600 per litre and the minimum wage is ₦77,000, funny right.

Just last week I watched a short video on Facebook by Zekeri Idris where he was returning from the market and has a small sack of goods by his side inside the car. He discussed how messed up we are in this nation. He showed the few things he bought which was only some onions, pepper, meat and eggs and all amount to over ₦76,000, almost the minimum wage. He didn't buy rice, beans or garri, he only bought soup and what to eat it with. This shows how difficult things are and how messed up the country is...a salary that is meant to sustain you for a whole month can vanish with just a visit to the market and the only thing you can get with it is food that will only last you for less than a week.

I'm not saying anything increase in the minimum wage will not be of help, but the economy as well needs to improve. If minimum wage increases and the prices of things keeps increasing too, then the increase in wage has no meaning. If minimum wage becomes a million naira and fuel becomes ₦50,000, or rive becomes ₦400,000, then tell me how that ha solved our problems.

Also, I don't have an exact figure of how much the minimum wage should be for us to feel rich. Maybe if they start paying us some millions of naira life will be more comfortable, but like I've been saying the economy needs to get better for our salary/money to be of value. The interesting part is all of our politicians who were meant to serve us are not earning this minimum wage, they are earning millions while they leave us the citizens to wallow in this hardship.

Our minimum wage is obviously far from enough 🤏.

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Images are AI generated.

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