I'm just taken back to my last months in country service where my expectations to be paid the recently increased minimum wage was cut short. But surprisingly, I received one time payment of that amount after a month of receiving my completion certificate. It came as a big surprise because my country that I know wouldn't have.
What was most surprising about that alert was how fast it went out of my account for what would seem like I wasted my money without thinking... It was only spent on food, transport and usual house bills. Not that it even sorted the issues, that'd be impossible with a million naira as minimum wage actually, but it was too little.
But then, how much minimum wage would really be enough to live a good life in Nigeria? If I was to answer this question late last year, I'd have given a completely different response which would have been more on the negative side of seeing things but a lot has changed since I've been learning and unlearning, here's a thought.
It would be important to note that there are a lot of Nigerians who are not earning even half of that minimum wage today, it's scary to actually think that but it is the reality. And then, there are non-political Nigerians who are earning way more than the minimum wage, that sounds like a lot has been done on their own end without reliance.
The point here is, with or without big minimum wage put in place, there is a bigger problem to be solved by the Government and the citizens. The Government first, needs to keep things more regulated like a stable inflation prices on items citizens need to use everyday, good roads, steady electricity and minimal charges on health issues.
I can almost bet that a lot will change if these things are considered first before increasing minimum wages because people would have less to worry about and use their wages for more growth-focused expenses. If you want more than the Government is offering, you'll have to diversify your personal income to achieve that.
On the end of the citizens, totally relying on the Government to fix these issues for better use of the minimum wage is like, sitting to be fed. I know it's the Government responsibility but when that is not done, you'd have to figure out what works best for you and go for it. The wage is small but we've seen people gain more with it.
It goes down to our definition of good life and how to build towards it. No amount of minimum wage will be enough if the citizens don't have good knowledge of money, how to manage better and ways to create opportunities for themselves when the Government fails. To mention the minimum wage amount, 77k, a triple of it sounds great but at that time, market woman will sell her 5 seeds of tomato for 5k and I'm not even joking.
Image used is AI generated.