Living wage not salary increment
By Abba Dukawa
Life in Nigeria has become miserable for the larger population as the year 2024 is one of the hardest years Nigerians have ever undergone after the ugly experience of civil war.
It is clear to all that Nigeria is presently at the edge of the precipice in terms of economic, security and food affordability. Each day, the hardship is biting very hard and the situation has pushed many people to take extreme measures, even as bad as taking their own lives.
Partly, the cost of living was driven by the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu when he took office. On the day he was sworn in almost a year ago, the president announced that the long-standing fuel subsidy would be ending. The so-called fuel subsidy is gone which critically forced essential commodities manufacturers to increase prices to the consumers.
n February this year, Vice-President Kashim Shettima announced the establishment of a board charged with controlling and regulating food prices. The Renewed Hope administration has also said it is working with rice producers to get more of it into markets.
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The government ordered the national grain reserves to distribute 42,000 tonnes of grains, including maize and millet. The administration instructed the Nigeria Customs Service to cheaply sell off bags of the grain they had seized.
The most recent hardship unleashed on the citizens was a hike in electricity charges. The decisions will force more medium and small-scale factories, and shops to close operations whereby the citizens would lose their jobs.
All these measures have not brought any meaningful relief to millions of Nigerians who fall below the poverty line each day. The present administration’s policies have worsened the economic crisis, leading to widespread hardship and anger.
In simple assessment of the overall, annual inflation is now close to 30 per cent – the highest figure in nearly three decades.
The cost of food has risen even more by 35 per cent. Many are going to bed hungry, rationing what food they have or looking for cheaper alternatives. People are now eating the rice that is normally discarded as part of the milling process. The waste product usually goes into fish ponds.
President Tinubu’s efforts to remodel the economy have also added to the burden.
To be honest, salary increase is not the solution as the difficulties are becoming unbearable to millions of Nigerians and wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living.
With the current reality in the country, it has been a tumultuous journey for workers, considering the rising cost of living after the removal of fuel subsidy among other measures.
The take-home pay of workers is not in tune with the reality because workers are struggle to survive and rarely meet up with the demands of their families. There is a need for the Bola Tinubu-led federal government to approve a living wage that will make life better for workers.
Before the current increase in prices, the salaries of many workers could not even sustain them to the next salary day. Some spend their salaries on payment of credits. Despite the increase in the pump price of fuel and the increase in the prices of foodstuffs and other goods, worker salaries remained the same.
A living wage is necessary considering the rising cost of living in the country not minimum wage. Every dawn in Nigeria unveils renewed hardships and harsh living conditions. The much-talked-about prospects of wage increments for the Nigerian worker remain a mirage. Petrol subsidy is purportedly gone; yet its impact lingers – revealing the ineptitude of the current federal government.
Salary increases are not solutions. Let the Renewed Hope administration do the needful by making rice producers flood the market with more of it. Dangote, BUA and other captains of industry should support the efforts of the government with their products at very subsidy prices.
Dukawa wrote from Abuja could be reached at abbahydukawa@gmail.com
