Minimum wage: It’s N52,200 or nothing - Labour

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities(SSANU) and the Nigeria Labour Congress(NCL) have proposed to the federal government that the minimum wage be N52,200. Many unions have asked the federal government to implement the minimum wage immediately, stating that this is the time that Nigerians need it the most. This past weekend, the SSANU and the NLC made their position on the matter known at the Executive Council meeting at Benue State University, in Makurdi.

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This article discusses how interest groups and unions affect government policy in Nigeria. These groups are making a strong push in raising the minimum wage for the country, and the federal government may be forced to settle on the new minimum wage ammount.

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Government Stops The Funding of Petroleum

The Nigerian government recently announced that it would stop funding petroleum products and transfer the money to finance different areas of national economic development. This idea has caused mixed emotions throughout the community. Some argued that it will put impoverish Nigerians into further debt and desperation and only benefit the few wealthy people. The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) argues that it will conserve funds for development of other sectors. Energy, infrastructure, and industries are the main sectors that will be focused on with the de-regularization of petroleum.

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This article relates to what we have been learning in class because of the economy, social cleavages, and different views by society and the government. The government is trying make the market more efficient, whereas society sees it as a way to divert their attention from the impact of the global financial crisis on Nigerians. Predictions are that the wealthier people will even more, while the majority of society, the poor Nigerians, will suffer more.

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Restructuring Nigeria's Education Sector

The Nigerian Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, has just officially presented his four-point agenda aimed towards restructuring the public education sector of Nigeria. The four points of the agenda are access, quality assurance, vocation, and technical education and funding. Egwu has hinted that he will soon make changes within the staff in the current ministry. He also pointed out that while they had done a good job, the ministry is still very "cumbersome".

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This article relates to the social challenges that Nigeria is facing today. Their educational system was subpar, and the ministry is trying to purge itself in order to improve it's system. This reform encouraged by the government will soon have an effect on every citizen of the country.

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Bloomberg.com has announced that Nigeria's federal government has put the country's state-owned telephone company, Nigerian Telecommunications, Ltd., or Nitel, up for sale to domestic and international buyers after a deal with Transnational Corp. fell through in February 2008 after Transnational failed to fix the failing Nitel. Nigeria did set a bar for potential investors; the company interested in buying must have at least 2 million existing land or cellular lines in use and a minimum net worth of $500 million. The share of the company being offered is surprisingly large, anywhere from 51% to 75%, meaning one company, potentially overseas, will essentially control all land-based telecommunications in Nigeria.

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This article demonstrates the increasing interconnectedness of the world, not only economically but practically as well. It will also be interesting to see the reaction from those in Nigeria and around the world that prefer that infrastructure remain at least in the control of domestic entities, if not in the government's hands entirely.

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Nigeria's War on Polio

Six years ago, Muslims in northern Nigeria formed a boycott of polio vaccinations because they claimed they were a Western plot to infect them with AIDS. The number of crippled children doubled in result of this. Now, after another tripling of polio cases, an anti-polio group is rising to clear the country of this disease. People crowd the streets to urge parents to get their children vaccinated at one of the hundreds of provided vaccination centers. This movement has increased the number of vaccinated by 26%. There is a fear that polio could be spread to surrounding countries, destroying their multibillion dollar plan to wipe the disease from the globe.


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This relates to what we have been learning in class because of different views on society by different religions. Some Muslims do not support getting children immunized, whereas others track down kids who have no recieved the vaccination. Getting rid of polio in Nigeria is important because it could easily spread around the globe, crippling many.

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Famous Nollywood Star 'Must Go' to Jail

In the article, it reports about a famous Nollywood (Nigeria's film industry) movie star, Ibinabo Fiberesima, who was convicted of drunk driving and reckless driving that lead to her hitting and killing a man in 2005. The controversy mentioned in the report is the failure to actually retain and put her in jail. Fiberesima has escaped the jail time by paying a $678 fine which has been called 'judicial recklessness' by the High Court. Judge Olumwayemi is among those that believe that Fiberesima should be in jail while filing her appeal of her five year sentence and has said "There are so many innocent persons in prisons awaiting trial while a convicted person is allowed to work about freely." Some officials are also concerned that this situation is giving other Nigerians that just because one has enough money or connections in the society, that one can ignore the court's ruling.

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The report relates to what we study in class by demonstrating the legal system and some corruption with avoiding jail time by paying money or having connections, when an average person would not have the same opportunity. Also, with people like Judge Olumwayemi speaking up against this it displays public accountability of the government to provide equal rule to every one.

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Airports Authority Grounds Airlines

Fresh off the heels of a threatened strike by engineers a few weeks ago, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) refused to allow certain airlines to depart from the country's airports until they paid their debts, totaling 8 billion Nigerian dollars, to the agency. An ultimatum was issued to the indebted airlines, which included Arik Air, Virgin Nigeria, and IRS airlines, on Friday, but the airlines apparently chose to wait until after the deadline to see what the FAAN would do. So when the agency made good of its threat and suspended flights, hundreds of unsuspecting passengers were stranded in airports until the airlines paid the debt later that afternoon.

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This article demostrates the uncertainty of government legitimacy in Nigeria. The fact that the airlines were readily able to pay off their debts but waited to see what the FAAN would do shows that the companies did not expect the government to be true to its word. It also shows the corruption inherent in Nigeria's business world as the airlines stranded hundreds of people in taking a chance to avoid paying a debt.