Nigeria’s minimum wage cannot cater for the minimum nutritional needs of one adult person in a month, a new report by an international e-commerce company, Picodi, has found.
The Picodi report, published yesterday, said the value of basic food products for the healthy living of an adult in a month, at the beginning of 2022, stood at N40,980, higher than the N30,000 minimum wage in Nigeria. This represents a 15.89% increase when compared to the beginning of 2021.
The researchers compared the monthly minimum wage for full-time work in January 2022 with wages from January 2021.
The study created a contractual list of basic food products and compared the prices of these products with the minimum wage. The list consists of eight product groups: bread, milk, eggs, rice, cheese, meat, fruits and vegetables.
The Nigerian minimum wage is thus not sufficient to meet the minimum nutrient requirements of the average adult based on those basic products.
Picodi researchers checked how the minimum wage rates have changed in 64 countries and whether such amounts can ensure a minimum standard of living in a given country.
They concluded that basic food sufficient to meet the minimum nutrient requirements is worth 136.6% of the minimum wage in Nigeria, the worst rate among the 64 countries.
On the contrary, a year ago, these products were worth 117.9% of the 2021 minimum wage in Nigeria. This, in effect means, the prices have risen faster than the minimum wage.
The study covered 64 countries with a government-set minimum wage and the scope of the countries cut across Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.
In 10 out of the 64 countries covered, the minimum wage rates have not changed when compared to the preceding year, the report said. “These include Armenia, Hong Kong, Israel, Malaysia, Nigeria, Slovenia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Peru”, it stated. Nigeria came in 55th place in this ranking.
The country’s minimum wage did not change as of the time of filing this report.
