I welcome you to my blog and another wonderful edition of the hive learner's featured post. I hear the minimum wage in some countries, and I am left wondering where I went wrong and why I was born into a country like this one, one where the people are not looked after, one where the people we voted into power are only after their self-interest and that of the people does not cross their minds at all. In my country when you compare how much people are earning and how bad the economy is, you are forced to wonder how people are actually surviving because even the little you are earning is not enough for you, and there are people earning way lower than you, so how are they doing it?
The minimum wage in my country is about 70,000 naira, and 80% of people are still earning way below that. It used to be 30,000 naira but was recently increased, but not all firms, companies, and private-owned firms have started paying that, which means there are many people still earning below minimum wage. The minimum wage is not even enough, so how are those who earn below it surviving? How are they able to purchase needs because currently I think about 70% of people living in my country no longer go for anything that is not a necessity because they do not have the finances to do so, for that reason they focus on needs.
When you go through social media, you get to see a lot of people messing around with how much debt they owe loan apps but I think that is how many people are surviving, they take loans and then when salary comes in they pay the ones they can and take another one and then there are those whose salary is not enough to pay the ones they owe and are forced to go in search of another loan app to get a loan from there by piling up debts they do not know when and how they are going to payback. 7 out of 10 people in my country are owing one or two loan apps with no clear vision of how they are going to pay back.
To rent a good and comfortable apartment with no shared bathrooms you actually need to triple the minimum wage and this is totally depending on the location, there are places where even 5 times the minimum wage is not enough to get you a comfortable apartment, one were you can live comfortably and enjoy your privacy. To cope with feeding, cost of transportation, and being able to afford basic needs, for those who can manage, the minimum wage has to be at least tripled; life down here is so terrible, and nobody is saying anything about it.
To live a comfortable life in this country considering the cost of living and how bad the economy has become, one has to be earning at least 6 to 7 times the minimum wage. Even earning 6 to 7 times the minimum wage does not save you from not being able to afford the basic needs you need as an individual or as a family. For me to consider myself rich, I need to be earning at least 10 times the minimum wage or even more than that, but I don't want to sound greedy, but that is the truth considering the cost of living currently.
