Nigerians on Sunday attacked the Senior Special Assistant to the President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitipe Ajayi, over his comments on the X account ( Twitter), where he claimed that those making the point that the N30,000 minimum wage is equal to $30 and the proposed N62,000 is $40 are not telling the whole story.
He went on to say that the dollar is not Nigeria’s national currency and that the cost of living in a country determines wages.
The Presidential aide further stressed that the people making the dollar equivalent argument ignore purchasing parity.
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He said a parity like, “What can you buy with 1$ in the US and What can you buy in Nigeria with Naira equivalent to $1?
To portray his points, he went on to explain that “whereas $1 can not buy a meal in the US, but its equivalent (N1500) will buy a good meal in a decent restaurant in Nigeria “.
Ajayi thought he was winning the arguments and added that a vegetable that cost $10 in the US, which is about N15,000, in Nigeria wouldn’t cost more than N1000 or less at the Wuse Market in Abuja.
The Presidential aide’s admonition did not sit well with many of his followers on the X account, who resorted to protests, with many talking down on him and cursing the federal government. The first Salvo came from @peculiarpat1, who alleged that the presidential aide was not sincere in his analysis, saying that Nigeria, as a country with a significant import dependency, almost everything they do is affected by the dollar.
He said the analysis would have made sense if the country produced 70% of everything needed.
The aggrieved also claimed that the standard of living in the US is 15 times higher, and the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, which, according to him, multiplied by 80 hours, goes a long way, not to mention a month.
Another person out of numerous responses was @anyachostan, who said the presidential aide should be ashamed of himself for coming up with that argument. Stan, in his opinion, pointed out that Nigeria’s economy is 95% import-dependent and import duty ( CIF) is calculated using the dollar currency, and as such, it affects the prices of what they buy in the market.
“Secondly, how many 1500 meals can N62,000 buy for you in a month before it finishes? Talk less about transportation and rent. At the same time, minimum wage in a state like New York is $15 per hour.
“Please do yourself a favour and keep your ignorance to yourself rather than bringing it in public to disgrace your children”. He stated.
@Oluwa seun _ Alaka, who also commented, told Ajayi that his argument falls flat in the face of the reality that $100 is even a respectable daily wage in the US, let alone a monthly wage. Alaka further disclosed that the US dollar itself has suffered massive inflation in the last few years, and $100 a few years ago is now stabilized as the same as today. He stressed that it is not a mistake that anyone who survives on less than $1.90 a day is classified as poor.
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