The big problem with minimum wages is that they can discourage employment. This is especially true as we enter a new age of automation.
Exactly, but I wonder how the Government find it hard to pay such fee as its minimum wage, It is just about equivalent to what a 50Kg bag of rice is sold for in the country.
Nigeria has a rich store of minerals, and good agricultural land, so its inhabitants should be prosperous.
It's very sad to see even people other countries tell us this. It is more disheartening to know the cost at which the country is being run with such under-performance and extreme level of mediocrity, I'm talking about a country where a Senator gets 750,000 naira per month plus allowances of 13.5 million naira per month, that's a total of 14.25 million naira ~ $38,928 per month, that's 171 million naira ~ $467,136 per annum which is doubled the value of what the US Vice President ($233,000) gets per annum. A little wonder why politics in the country is always a do or die affair.
From this
article, I read that the low literacy rate and sparse electricity are factors which contribute to the low wages.
I can tell you that the cost of living is way higher than you could imagine, An average resident living in an apartment of 4 flat(in building) lagos would pay about ~ $15 for electricity that would barely be available for 6 hours or less per day, each month.