I ran into a woman this week who earns N7,000
a month at restaurant in Surulere. She's required
to resume by 8 in the morning and close at 8pm
everyday, Monday to Saturday. She lives in Orile,
which means she pays transport to get from her
house to work every day. She told me that her
boss gives her N200 every week as transport
allowance. And she feels lucky!
I asked her why do you do this job, how can
N7,000 help you survive in a month? And her
reply was;
"N7,000 small? Many of the people wey I know no
dey even earn reach N5,000 for one month. My
small sister dey work for supermarket dey earn
N4,000. Where I dey live people dey roam about
they beg money wey dem go take buy food chop.
Some people no dey even see N50 for one week.
With my salary I go buy food stuff put for house
for my pikin dem. I no dey too spend money for
transport because I dey wake up early to trek
reach (she mentioned the place - can't remember)
from there I take bus reach Bode Thomas. And I
dey collect N200 every week, so that one sef dey
help."
I was amazed at how satisfied she was with
earning that amount of money and surviving well
on it, especially with two kids. But isn't the
minimum wage in Nigeria supposed to be N18,000?
There are millions of Nigerians who earn way less
than that. Is there something that can be done
about it? Is the Nigerian minimum wage applicable
to private business owners or just government
workers?
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