lets start with say N1,000,000.00

Paid employment is not it at all,

The amount you earn as salary doesn't really matter but the kind of life you live the your background.Most employees have to cope with dependants and it really sets them back in terms of savings.I believe that if you have a good life style and a good saving culture no matter what you have as salary,it will be enough.
If you want to start a family,it is possible no matter the amount of income you make.It all depends on the kind of woman you intend to marry.
In all,one should have at least 2 sources of income and you wife can be an addition.

Every one who wants to survive in nigeria should think self reliance

Africans are culturally catering for their dependants. thus most salary earners have numerous dependants that rely on him for survival. Also the taste and location matters a lot. But 100k upward wld be ok for degree holders.

Blah! blah! blah! blah!
Always remember you get what you expect. The question is front loaded with negativity. To "sustain an average Nigerian". Are you average?

Atleast 200,000 Naira. is ok

Its def

stalliontp:

i guess average salary will be what is paid whereever he/she decides to work, if it's in Nigeria then , it will be what is paid in Nigeria and if it's in the U.K, then it would be what the going pay for such is.  If he seeks jobs in Nigeria , he may have a competitive edge because he studied abroad but i think that's all to it. In the U.S, he gets between $65K to $90K for his Masters.

I beg to disagree with your salary scale for US jobs ,     B Sc - Biomedical Engineering (Medical/Pharmaceutical),  then to MS in Public Health, mostly directed towards policy making and administrations,  while it affords you more time than other bio-medical practices,   the take home pay is as good as B Sc - Engineering.

Nezan:

lets start with say N1,000,000.00

kilo le to be

2 million naira a year.

two million? that is too much. average naija person, 200k

The least paid worker in naija should nt receive less than 50k a month.
As some posters said,everytin depends on d number of dependents ur catering for and hw u control ur expenditures.

Make una dey deceive una self Like say no be for this same country graduates gets paid 15k per month. If wishes were horses, men will ride o.

i think 60k is ok for an average nigerian Like other posters have already it also has alot to with the location and the economics of life there.

Believe me, no amount is too small and no amount is too big.

let this be at the back of your mind: No company can pay you what you really worth.

Go figure!

none

SMSguru:

Believe me, no amount is too small and no amount is too big.

let this be at the back of your mind: No company can pay you what you really worth.

Go figure!

This is kind of a funny comment, made me laugh. And it got me thinking.
I have this theory about salary. It goes like this:
If you're earning 10k, that is probably what you're worth at that point in time. If you want to earn more, you have to make sure you are worth more. How do you do that? You have to raise your game somehow. Don't ask me how.
In a nutshell, you are sustained by the fruit of your labour. If you're a 15k earner, so you need to live in the realm of 15k. If you're a 150k earner, so you live within those means. Simple. There's no benchmark for individual sustenance worldwide.


In the same Nigeria where some people earn 15k a month, some people earn 150k a month. Same level of experience. Now that is not really different from the US, where some people earn $8 an hour, and some people earn $80 an hour. That is just the way things are.

Even though there is always an official minimum wage, no private employer anywhere in the world can be forced by the government to pay that minimum. The only thing that can ensure that is job competition, i.e. there are enough jobs to go round to a certain extent. In Nigeria where government does not audit SMEs, and have no way of knowing their books, well. . . if you are banking on minimum wage and you're not working for government, you are so on your own!

In the real world, there is always some kind of differentiator that separates the 15k guy from the 150k guy. It may be a better degree /set of qualifications, or better ability to pass tests or interviews, it could be possession of a unique skill or trait, it may be that they know someone that provides the leverage (nepotism), or they have some sort of business they're doing, or are stealing, whatever it is, there is always a differentiator.

We have this thing in Nigeria, where we want things, we want a good life, but we seem to not realise that we have to work for it. It is really pathetic. Our thinking is really lazy, and methinks the real poverty in Africa/Nigeria is poverty of the mind. We are simply too lazy to figure out how to get more. Which is why we easily turn to stealing, crimes, corruption, etc, cos that's a no-brainer. But I tell you, there is always a way to earn more. Whichever applies to you, you have to do the research yourself.

I remember my first job was about 5k a day, in a software company. I started the job then and worked hard nonetheless. I worked only there for 9 months, but by the 9th month, my pay had risen to about 17k5. I left for another job, for 20k a month. Not much difference, you would say, but I took the job because I wanted to work on the island, and be close to all the big companies. By the end of that year (another 9 months in fact), my salary had risen to just over N1m a year gross, and about 60k a month net, after taxes. Another 6 months and the next job I got was exactly twice my salary.

What's my point exactly? There is no such thing as an average Nigerian, talk less of how much is needed to sustain him/her. I don't expect someone earning 15k to be dreaming of a nice flat or a car at that point. I also don't expect that all employers would be compelled to pay 15k. If the world's most powerful nations are unable to do it 100%, I don't expect that Nigeria can do.

Just my thoughts.

All depends on your spending spree and lifestyle. For examlple, 2 ppl employed in the same place with same salary, without family pressure here n there, one is likely to do more savings than the other. The take home pay for some political appointees is enormous but most are likely to become poor if not in that appointment for three years but the wise ones ll definately survive it. That's why politicians dont like staying out of appointment n always make politics as a do or die affair. Be wise if you are civil servant, enterpreneur, banker, politician or even an enployer of labour

It all depend on ur daily income or monthly whatever.

Well, I can assure you that not all self-employed enjoy their income. Remember, business is all about risk; you either make profit or lose or lose big. A self-employed can only cater for immediate problems and get hooked in the short run. This is because the money is always available at a time and not available at another time- its always easy to dig ones hands in to one's business money but at a time, the money will run low that it will not even take the business anywhere.

There are some things we can not control, some are known and some are not known. Examples are price inflation of essential commodities by govt, artificial scarcity, sudden global meltdown, etc. 

The solution is planning and cutting off luxuries. If people concentrate more on necessities, I guess the salary/income will be fair. I know graduates who receive 30k while ND holders receive 80k+ in dsame org. Is it that there is no salary structure or that the HR needs to do a check on how people are placed in office-with what grade and qualification.

My bros and sis, expatrates come into Nig to work and park our money away. They are employed as expatrates but at the end Nigs do the work. While exp earns roughly the local staff 5 years salary in a year, the local keeps struggling to make ends meet.

Maybe we need to teach ourselves the tactics of management and planning in most affected areas of our lives. Whoever have something on this should not hesitate to share.

Am I making sense?