N30,000 minimum wage: How Practical is it?

After years of receiving 18,000 naira as minimum wage by Nigerian Workers, the Pres. Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government made the move to increase the minimum wage to 30,000 naira which when compared to the economy situation is nothing but still applaudable.

Since Pres. Buhari signed the minimum wage bill on Thursday, Nigerians have been having mixed reactions, while many believe it is better than nothing others are already anticipating inflation which will bring down the purchasing power of 30,000 naira to the previous minimum wage of 18,000 naira.

Irrespective of what happens, the main question is how practical will paying 30,000 naira as the new minimum wage be?

Let accept the fact that the Federal Government will do everything possible to set the ball rolling by paying it own civil servants the minimum wage but what will happen to workers at the state level.

Apart from some states like Lagos, Rivers, and some oil-producing states, some other states are still battling with arrears of 18,000 minimum wages for months. What will happen to workers in these states?

The Private sector is one area to also look at, the bill stated that private coys will pay the new minimum wage as well.

If Private firms are going to go by this, then they will have to push the burden on their employees by reducing their staff strength and also increase the price of their products or services to meet up with the new pay.

Another area no one is looking at is the Education sector, the Private schools (secondary and primary) to be precise.

According to the bill, Employers with less than 25 employees are exempted from paying the minimum wage of 30,000 naira, this means private schools which forms one of the biggest employers in the education sector will continue with their normal pay for teachers, so workers in this area are not included.

Join the discussion, how practical is it?