Between national minimum wage and President Tinubu’s promised living wage

The national minimum wage in Nigeria is reviewed after every five years. The last minimum wage was signed into law on April 18, 2019. A new minimum wage is expected to have taken effect from the May 1, 2024. The federal government constituted a committee made up of the organised labour and other stakeholders to […]

The national minimum wage in Nigeria is reviewed after every five years. The last minimum wage was signed into law on April 18, 2019.

A new minimum wage is expected to have taken effect from the May 1, 2024. The federal government constituted a committee made up of the organised labour and other stakeholders to come up with a new minimum wage.

Six months after the constitution of the committee it is yet to agree on a new minimum wage.

While the government representatives are proposing a meagre amount of N60,000 after starting with N48,000 the NLC is insisting on N487,000. Prior to the constitution of a minimum wage committee, the president during his campaign and in many fora promised to pay Nigerian worker a living wage instead of a minimum wage.

Unfortunately, one year into his administration neither the minimum wage nor the living wage has been paid.

A minimum wage is the least amount of money any worker should earn in Nigeria backed by law, which today stands at N30,000 per month, while a living wage is the amount an individual or family would need to earn to avoid living in poverty. The living wage is usually higher than the minimum wage.

Let’s calculate a conservative living wage in today’s Nigeria, using six parameters of feeding, transportation, utility bills, education, house rent, hospital bills and contingency.

For feeding alone, a family of five, comprising a man, his wife and three children on N500, per meal, per day, will require N225,000 per month. This is even conservative, because in today’s Nigeria a N500 per meal is not sufficient. Transportation for 22 working days at N2,000 per day will amount to 44,000 in a month.

For education, if three of your kids are attending the cheapest private school around your neighbourhood, since public schools have been bastardised, the least you pay per term for the three of them will be N90,000 per term or N270,000 per session. Monthly it will amount to N22,500.

For utility it will require at least N10,000 per month for electricity and water, respectively.

Also, one would require N300,000 for a one-bedroom flat in the suburb of any of our cities as annual rent while another N10,000, monthly is needed to address health issues.

Put together, a conservative living wage in today’s Nigeria for a family of five will amount to N356,500 monthly, compared to the miserable N60,000 being proposed by the government.

If the Tinubu administration actually wants to pay a conservative living wage, then the least a Nigerian worker should take home should not be less than N356,500 monthly.

However, it seems the talk about living wage was just a political gimmick which was never meant to be implemented.

The least the government should propose as minimum wage if it cannot pay a living wage should be between N120,000 to N150,000 since the prices of goods and services have skyrocketed by over 300 per cent from when the last national minimum wage was paid.

The government should be realistic and come up with a minimum wage that will reflect our current economic reality, since it is obvious they cannot pay a living wage.

The president should as a matter of urgency, let Nigerians know that he has no intention of paying a living wage, but will rather pay a minimum wage that can cushion the effects of some of his policies on the Nigerian masses.

 

Mohammed Jibril PhD. Department of Accounting, Federal University of Lafia. [email protected]