LAGOS, Nigeria — On the campaign trail for re-election in February, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari may have spoken too soon when he backed an initiative to hike his country’s minimum wage by a whopping two thirds. David Umahi, governor of southeast Ebonyi state, warned this week that the 30,000 naira minimum wage for public servants couldn’t work. “Many states are experiencing various problems and cannot pay salaries,” he told reporters after Buhari’s remarks. “Nigeria’s difficulty on the minimum wage is that because its electricity, literacy are less than most countries, its wages must be less too. At 30,000 naira, it would take 35 years for a Nigerian worker to earn what deputies make in a month, and 68 years at the current minimum wage level of 18,000 naira.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 11, 2018 06:17 UTC