By Kayode Emola
Depending on who you ask, you may be told that Nigeria is either a rich or a poor country. However, by looking at it statistically or empirically, we should be able to ascertain which it is.
An oft-cited indicator of whether a country is rich or poor is GDP (gross domestic product). Whilst this is an acceptable international standard for measuring the growth in a country, it may not be the perfect tool to use in the case of Nigeria, as much of the nation’s production goes undocumented, which can skew the data collected.
Other factors we may consider are the earning capacity of the citizens and their respective spending compared to other countries of the world. In Nigeria today, the minimum wage of a worker is ₦70,000 (approx. $46) per month – roughly $1.50 a day for an average worker, from which they must pay electricity, water, accommodation, transportation and all their other supplementary expenses, as well.
The meagre sum of $46 a month is not a problem if it is adequate to meet the needs of the person earning it. However, a critical assessment of the expenses incurred by an ordinary person on the street gives us an indication of where Nigeria sits within the nations’ league tables.
An average commute from one’s home to their place of work would cost around ₦2,000 /day (equivalent to $1.30/day). For someone working 22 days each month, more than half of their wages are gone on transportation alone. When we then factor in subsistence, accommodation, electricity, water, and other sundry expenses, then the earning power of the average Nigerian relative to their expenses makes the country fall into the class of a poor nation.
If one looks solely at the wages being paid to workers, the derivative tax, and the purchasing power of the population, then there is no doubt that Nigeria should be classed as a poor nation. However, this does not necessarily tell the complete story: historical data shows that Nigeria was once a rich country, with the potential to be a global giant.
Consider, for instance, that in 1916 the average salary of a clerk in Nigeria was £25/month. Correcting for a century’s inflation using the Bank of England’s inflation calculator (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator) we can see that £1 in 1916 is equivalent to £75.46 today.
This shows that if wages were being adjusted for inflation, the average wage of the Nigerian worker today should be £75.46 times the original £25: £1,886.50 (equivalent to ₦3,950,000) a month. The truth is that not even the high-income earners in Nigeria are getting such a monthly wage, let alone the middle-income earners.
Looking at where we are and where we have come from, it is clear that those who lived in 1916 Nigeria are by far better off than many of us living there in the 21st century. If a month’s take-home pay is not capable of covering even one aspect of the many basic needs of the ordinary man, then it is time to critically evaluate the existence of the country.
In this way, it is evident that anyone who is not earning sufficient money to cater for themselves and their immediate families, yet still believes that Nigeria can work, needs their brain seriously examined. The difference between the ₦70,000/month minimum wage being offered by the government today and the ₦3.95m/month the average worker ought to be earning had wages kept up with inflation is monumental.
Yet, a Senator in the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria receives ₦29m each month for salary, plus allowances on top. How is it that the political office-holder’s salary has not only kept up with but surpassed inflation over the last 100 years, but the average worker’s pay has gone back by more than 200 years?
Therefore, there is a denial of the fact that any Yoruba person still supporting the political elite is doing a disservice to the Yoruba nation. The politicians we have in Nigeria will not stand up for the people to address this social injustice, as it doesn’t affect them personally.
This means that the only recourse left for the poor man to escape the poverty of Nigeria is to try and become part of the corrupt government structure. This is, unless every poor person blighted by poverty stands up for themselves and demands the right to self-determination of their ethnic nationality. Then, and only then, will we have a chance of building a nation that works for the good of all, not just the elite. Then, we can make our Yoruba nation the prosperous country it should always have been.
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