Putting the dire economic situation of Nigeria in perspective.

Socio-economic development can be measured through various indicies so as to determine how well the generality of a population in a given country are faring.

The strongest indication however is the use of purchasing power pegged against a standard measure of income available to the common man.

In the case of Nigeria, that 'peg' is the minimum wage.

That is the variable that can be used to measure against other variables or indicies and can help determine if a country is developing economically or not.

It is true that things like infrastructure, exchange rate, reserves, social welfare programmes etc can also be used, but these can be subjective.

What you need to make a living however cannot be subjected to parochial sentimentalisms. Even corruption can be subjective because of what use are fighting corruption, social schemes, infrastructure, savings etc if they do not translate to improved purchasing power and adequate food on the common man's table. This is so because all those things are not ends in themselves, but means to an end, which is ensuring the common man is able to put food on the table.

Without wasting much time, and removing technical economics jargons that may be confusing, let's compare, punch-for-punch, the purchasing power across 4 time periods for some basic/common commodities when pitted against the minimum wage.

This would hopefully show decisively how the common man is faring. Because at the end of the day, the common man does not care about FX, politics, ethnicity or other subjective and divisive indicies that politicians have forced on us so as to divide opinions. The common man simply cares about how he can survive day to day.

Review Periods
The periods to be looked at would be 1990-1998, 1999-2010, 2011-2014 and 2015-date.

Minimum Wage
The average minimum wages for the respective time periods would be:

1. 90-98 - N300
2. 99-2010- N7000
3. 2011-2014 - N18000
4. 2015-2023 - N30000

Commodities/Items
The commodities/items to be measured against are;

1. Rice bag
2. Cooking gas kg
3. Flour bag
4. PMS litre
5. Diesel litre
6. Cement bag
7. Tomatoes basket
8. Beans bag
9. Beef (cow) Kg

Year 1990-1998
Av. Minimum wage (MW) N300

Item price
1. Rice N1000
3+ months salary to buy 1 bag

2. Beans N1500 5 months salary to buy 1 bag

3. Cooking gas NA No reliable records

4. Flour N190 1 month salary gets 1+ bag

5. PMS N11 1 month salary gets 27l

6. Diesel N12 1 month salary gets 25l

7. Cement N120 1 month salary = 2 bags+

8. Basket of tomatoes N200 1 month salary =1+ basket

9. Beef N50 1 month salary = 6kg
Year 1999-2010
Av. Minimum wage (MW) N7000

Item price qty of MW
1. Rice N6000 1month salary = 1+ bag

2. Beans N7000 1month salary to buy 1 bag

3. Cooking gas N200 1 month salary = 35kg

4. Flour N4500 1 month salary gets 1+ bag

5. PMS N65 1 month salary gets 107ltrs

6. Diesel N150 1 month salary gets 46ltrs

7. Cement N1500 1 month salary = 4+ bags

8. Basket of tomatoes N2500 1 month salary =2+ baskets

9. Beef 250 1 month salary= 28kg


Year 2011-2014
Av. Minimum wage (MW) N18000

Item price qty of MW
1. Rice N8000 1 month salary to buy 2+bags

2. Beans N15000 1month salary to buy 1+ bag

3. Cooking gas N400 1 month salary = 45kg

4. Flour N6000 1 month salary gets 3 bags

5. PMS N90 1 month salary gets 200ltrs

6. Diesel N300 1 month salary gets 60ltrs

7. Cement N200 1 month salary = 9 bags

8. Basket of tomatoes N7500 1 month salary =2+ baskets

9. Beef 500 1 month salary = 36kg


Year 2015 to date
Av. Minimum wage (MW) N30,000

Item price qty of MW
1. Rice N70000 2+ months salary to buy 1 bag

2. Beans N100000 3+ months salary to buy 1 bag

3. Cooking gas N1300 1 month salary = 23kg

4. Flour N60000 2+ months salary gets 1bag

5. PMS N600 1 month salary gets 50ltrs

6. Diesel N1300 1 month salary gets 23ltrs

7. Cement N10000 1 month salary = 3 bags

8. Basket of tomatoes N58000 2 months salary =1+ basket

9. Beef N5000 1 month salary = 6kg


So which period had the best economy with regards to purchasing power of the common man?

Good analysis. We have a long way to go in all aspects of life. The economy, security, political, even common social amenities are all zero. We now live individualistic lives where corruption is good if it favours you and your family and bad if it doesn't

ForValour:
Good analysis. We have a long way to go in all aspects of life. The economy, security, political, even common social amenities are all zero. We now live individualistic lives where corruption is good if it favours you and your family and bad if it doesn't

Very long way.

It is important to know where we are coming from and where we are going, economically, as a nation.

Blind criticisms won't get us anywhere and neither would blind praises.

The success or failure of governance must be measured with indicies that relate to the common man and not factors that serve the rich in disguise of providing for the masses.

ivandragon:



Very long way.

It is important to know where we are coming from and where we are going, economically, as a nation.

Blind criticisms won't get us anywhere and neither would blind praises.

The success or failure of governance must be measured with indicies that relate to the common man and not factors that serve the rich in disguise of providing for the masses.

The so called leaders deserve every criticism they get, for how they have bastardized the country. Most countries have well thought out blueprints for sustainable progress but ours are opportunilist elements who feed fat on the naivety of the masses.