₦airaland Forum

WRONG PERCEPTION ABOUT MINIMUM WAGE

NATIONAL ECONOMIES AND HOW IT WORKS......


Those comparing minimum wages of Nigeria and other countries are ignorant of how national economies work. There is no basis comparing the salaries of one country to the other when their economies are different.

In Germany, minimum wage is 1498 Euros which is equivalent to N626,000. You need 860 Euros to cover your monthly rent and utility.

That is N360,000, the price of two bedroom flat in a whole year in Nigeria. And how much does it cost to cut a hair in Germany? 50 Euros, the equivalent of N20,500. While in Nigeria, you can cut your hair at N200 at most, and N1000 in expensive salons in Abuja or Lagos.

Their rich counterparts in Hamburg or Frankfurt will charge 1500 Euros, the equivalent of N627,000. In Nigeria, even with that meager amount, the man with N30,000 will get along fine.

In UK a tiny hotel room that can accomodate 4 inches bed cost 120 Pounds, equivalent of N60,000 when its equivalent in Abuja will cost mere N5000.

Fuel in Germany is 1.8 Euros per Liter the equivalent of N752 per liter. In Nigeria fuel is fixed at N145 per liter.

Basically the German average income earner cannot afford full tank when his Nigerian counterpart should be able to fill his tank with N7000.

To mend trousers in Germany, a tailor charges 40 Euro, equivalent of N16,000 to fix button, and a Nigerian tailor can take N50 for the service, some may even wave it off.



CONCLUSION

The only thing absent that makes life difficult for a Nigerian worker is the failure of government to complement his income with basic social amenities like cheap food, portable water, public transportation, free education, cheap and available electricity, affordable housing and mortgage and healthcare.

That is what makes the difference between life in Nigeria and Germany or South Africa to an average income earner, and it is the area Labour Leaders should concentrate their demands, not salary increase that will be swallowed by inflation.


EXCEL MINDS

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Reports have it that Atiku will not be traveling to the U.S where he hasn't been to in the past 13 years.



Sources close to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, have dispelled claims in some quarters that the former Vice President was set to jet out of the country to the United States of America (USA).



Daily Trust learnt that Atiku had travelled to the UK last Thursday, but returned to the country to kick off his presidential campaign on Sunday in Sokoto.



A top source in the Atiku Media Office, who pleaded not to be mentioned said, “His Excellency embarked on a private visit to the UK, shortly after the inauguration of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja. He has since returned. I think that addresses the issue.”



When asked for more details, he said, “I just left him at his residence. He moved immediately to the Airport from the venue of the inauguration on Thursday, and then came back today (yesterday).”



Another chieftain of the PDP from the North also told a correspondent in confidence that Atiku would go to the US in the course of the campaigns, but said, “now is time to kick off the campaigns in Nigeria; so, he is around to do that tomorrow (today).”



Source: https://www.stechitegist.com/2018/12/atiku-cancels-us-trip-plans-to-campaign.html?m=1

@op...

I don't think anyone is really saying the FG should pay what is obtainable (or even close to that) in the developed countries.

the issue is that of relativity.


you pointed out certain areas of expenses that when juxtaposed with the Nigerian situation are at opposite ends of the financial spectrum of economic analysis.

Economies in the west are private sector driven, as such there is real value for goods & services as a result of the centripetal generation of wealth (i.e, wealth flows from the 'people' to the government) which allows the generators of wealth to determine what the cost of goods & services should be, ergo, cost of labour.


in Nigeria, wealth distribution is centrifugal. the centre determines who gets what, when & how in terms of economic & financial resources, as such, there is a greater disparity in wealth distribution as only few private businesses can actually sustain high wages...



so the comparison should be with countries with whom Nigeria has a similar economic base, such as Algeria, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico...


as such the salary increase is actually an area labour leaders need to focus on (that's the key area I slightly beg to differ from you). the other social & infrastructural issues you pointed out are also key, but government has to create a balance between them because in reality, those supposedly cheap infrastructures governments of developed nations provide are sustained by taxes generated from the private sector where wealth should ordinarily be domiciled...