According to the International Labour Organisation, a minimum wage is the least possible salary that an employer is required to pay employees for the job. However, it is illegal for employers to pay employees anything short of the minimum wage as stipulated by a federal law of a given country. Although minimum wages are typically calculated at an hourly rate, across many African countries they are calculated and paid monthly. This applies to employees and civil servants under formal contract in either the private or public sector. Minimum wage is the lowest pay employers can pay their workers. While advanced economies pay hourly, most African countries pay their workers a meagre sum monthly. Some of the world’s billionaires advocate that we do not need a minimum wage but a minimum income.
In Nigeria, 2015 was N18,000 ($91.4), 2023 was N30,000 ($66). Top oil-producing African countries pay far higher than Nigeria. From Gabon, which pays N376,000 to Ghana, N60,000. Presently, Liberia pays the least of $91. Very few countries in Africa pay their workers below $90 in minimum wage. Minimum wage in Nigeria refers to the national minimum wage for federal workers. The National Bureau of Statistics made us understand that the population of Nigeria has increased since 2022, resulting in high unemployment, especially amongst the youths. The private sector had most of the multinational companies exiting the country between 023 and 2024. The manufacturers and a few entrepreneurs could not afford to pay the new minimum wage due to the high cost of production and running costs.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the minimum wage bill into law on July 29, 2024. This entails that the National Youth Service Corps members would now receive N77,000 instead of N33,000 with other government workers across boards. Twenty-one governors, including Anambra State, expressed their readiness to pay the new minimum wage. The federal government started payment of the new minimum wage in September 2024, when the price of petrol had risen from N590 to N1,500, a painter of garri from N1,500 to N3000, a bag of rice from N40,000 to N70,000, and a tuber of yam from N2000 to N4000. Governors of Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Delta, Gombe, Kebbi, Ogun, Ondo, and Kogi states agreed to pay their workers above the N70,000 minimum wage due to the high cost of transportation, living, and food insecurity.
Countries like Vietnam increase the minimum wage by 5 percent every year, even with their low cost of living and social welfare safety net. N80,000 minimum wage in Nigeria is just $47 and N70,000 ($41). Mark Cuban advocates for a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour to allow workers to take care of their families and put food on the table. Housing wages are as silent as a graveyard in Nigeria. Milton Friedman would somehow posit that labour and trade unions do not have much positive impact on the economy. The salary received by Nigerian workers does not accrue up to N2000 per day, and that tells you that more than 70% of Nigerian workers live below one dollar per day.
The federal government in the USA pays a minimum of $7.25 per hour, though not all workers are paid the hourly minimum wage. The English play “An Inspector Calls,” written in 1961 by J.B. Priestley, satirised the misconceptions about minimum wage with the attitude of the two business magnates, Sir Arthur Birling and Sir George Croft, as big-time employers of labour during the Industrial Revolution of the 1950s. Of course, their attitudes led to the suicide of a young female worker, Eva Smith (Daisy Renton), who died out of frustration.
Nigeria has the highest population of black people in Africa. It used to be the fulcrum and the engine room of developmental strides and conflict resolutions in Africa. It had every opportunity to be on par with advanced economies of the world owing to the abundant deposits of expensive mineral and natural resources all over the land. Sadly, the political leaders who had shown helpless Nigerians that might is right engaged in rhetoric and verbal gimmicks to deceive the citizenry on the goings on of governance while nothing but an appreciable level of looting and tracking of political opponents occupied the minds of those at the corridors of power.
We cannot feign ignorance or become indifferent to the plights of workers. Payment of wages is as old as creation. The creator has made it so that man would eat from the sweat of his labour. There’s so much that perplexes us about human nature. History is largely the record of man’s inhumanity to man. A museum in San Francisco displayed, among other things, a collection of instruments of torture that were employed by religious people to force other people to believe as they did. Do we now have compassion for others and their misery? Nigerian workers are furtively afraid of getting old because they have virtually nothing to fall back on upon retirement. Many of them cut corners, defraud, and engage in corrupt practices to make ends meet.
Wise leaders remain humble and hearken to the cry of the people. Every decision taken by a leader makes or mars the followers. Our political leaders think it’s enough “being” in government without “doing” anything tangible to uplift the people and change their lives positively. “Freedom and Opportunity” given to political leaders in Nigeria has been translated into “Get and Spend,” which is the least satisfactory they can offer themselves.
Finally, awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realising a great thing or what has been done for him. Workers need to be awed, and their children should be given every opportunity to shine. It’s seconds that give minutes counting up to years. Little acts, little words, and little thoughts are necessary to effect a change. Leaders must learn to do small things differently and understand the importance of small things, such as the remuneration of labourers.
Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu, FHA II Estate, Satellite Town Lagos.
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