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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