Some financial experts and other Nigerians last Thursday urged
the Federal Government to review upwards the wages it currently pays its
workers.

They spoke with our correspondent on contemporary living
standards in Lagos.

According to them, a substantial increase in wages will
complement the government’s efforts to tackle corruption and other social
vices.

They noted that the economy would remain stagnant until
wages match contemporary levels of inflation.

Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, a former President of the Chartered
Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), pointed out that the high level of
inflation had eroded the value of workers’ salaries which, he said, had
remained stagnant.

Unegbu observed that periodic upward review of wages would
reinvigorate economic activities and create the liquidity needed in the system,
as well as encourage investment among workers.

“Low wages make workers to be less productive, create
discord in families and compel a majority of them to engage in shady deals to
make ends meet,” he said.

Mr Harrison Owoh, the Managing Director, HJ Trust and
Investment Ltd., Lagos, attributed the increase in corruption and other social
ills among the working class to the prevailing “dismal wages’’.

Owohsaid that the inability of the Nigerian working class to
financially support extended family members to create small businesses had
contributed to the army of unemployed youths and high level of poverty
nationwide.

“A well paid worker will not only support extended family
members in operating small businesses, but would find it difficult to engage in
corruption or any social vices,” he said.

Owoh said that the absence of social security benefits also
compounded the problem of poor wage earners.

Mrs Abisola Egbedi, a Human Resource Officer with Rhine
Ltd., Ikeja, said that Nigerian workers earned less than their counterparts
elsewhere.

“A World Bank research conducted sometimes ago shows that
over 120 million Nigerians live on less than two dollars (N320) per day.

“ The situation has not improved even with the N18,000
minimum wage; it is very hard for people to survive on that kind of salary in a
country where most goods are imported.’’

Mr Henry Idemudia, a career counsellor in Lagos, said that
the nation’s poor wage profile had robbed the country of committed workers
interested in professional career growth.

“Job seekers are no longer concerned about the prospect of
the jobs they get.

“They are only interested in the salary they will earn; this
is the reason many people want to work in multinational companies and oil firms
who pay their staffs huge salaries,’’ Idemudia said.

Mrs Olubunmi Oyefeso, a Lagos-based civil servant, told our
correspondent that there was a need for the government to periodically shore up
the minimum wage to meet current economic realities.

“Our salary is not good enough; we are grossly underpaid. We
live on loans; without loans we can’t embark on meaningful projects like having
houses and cars of our own.

“We would have finished spending the salary before it is
even paid at the end of the month; we would have incurred lots of debts.

“We buy necessities like food and clothing on credit; it is
like a cycle. At the end of the year, we always have nothing to show for our
labour,” she said.

Mr Uche Anyim, a medical doctor, appealed to the government
to increase workers’ purchasing power through improved wages.

“Many Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet; they can’t
live the kind of lives they desire because of poor wages.

“How can people buy goods when they do not have money? It is
good to encourage the growth of foreign and local businesses in the country; we
should, however, empower people who will buy their products,” Anyim said.