The Cost Of Living Vs The Value Of Earning.

When it comes to minimum wage in my country Nigeria, yeah.. I will not try to sound fancy about it, because as it stands now i think the current minimum wage is 77,000 naira, and to be honest that amount in our today's economy is not something one can sit and write about,it is just there on paper, because when you think about it what can 77,000 naira really do for someone in a full month? Just feeding alone can finish that amount in a month not to talk of other things like transport, rent ,bills, and some other basic needs, in our day to day life I really don't think that minimum wages really is sustainable as people think it should,maybe few years ago it was manageable , but not in this current 2026, like the economy is now very bad, prices of things has gone so up, that income still stays the same and seriously it's not actually nice.

For someone that's earning minimum wage, I don't think it is even really helping as it should seriously, because its more like you are just surviving than you are trying to live, you are just trying to get through life , managing yourself and cutting corners and all, it can be really stressful and it also drains someone mentally and physically. Even if this minimum wage was doubled that like would make it 154,000 naira, hmmmm... Maybe people could try to survive and all , but then will it cover alot of things, not now that rent is so high, the other day I went with 20,000 naira to get something but ended up coming back home with just 2-3 food items all because the prices had gone up, even with this I still don't think that life will be really comfortable, now it it was tripped , now we are talking , one could actually do something decent, and that is if you live an average man life style , your rent isn't on the high side and you are not livid and extravagant life , so yes if it's tripled it will make sense, you would be able to plan better, even do some savings, and you will not feel completely stucked or anything,it won't make you rich but it will give you some level of stability.

Now being rich is a completely different conversation for me, so being rich , is not about the amount of money that you earn,but it is about the kind of life you live, it's about being able to meet your basic needs , supper some family members, handle emergencies without panicking, so even if minimum wages was doubled or tripled it still won't mean that you will get rich any time soon, what people really need is a system where income matches the reality of living expenses, because right now, there is a big gap, and that gap is what makes things hard, at the end of the day, minimum wage is supposed to be a starting point for a decent life, not a struggle point.

Image Credit