NIGERIAN is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. Other countries that are members of OPEC include, Venezuela, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Libya and Irag. These countries, including Nigeria are blessed by God with natural resources like crude oil, fertile soil and other solid minerals.
The aim of this commentary is to present a comparative analysis of the pump price, of petrol and minimum wage paid in Nigeria and other OPEC countries viz-a-viz the quality of life of the people in Nigeria those countries.
To start with while other OPEC countries are exploiting their crude oil for the benefit of the nation and their people, the same cannot be said of Nigeria, because the nation is not better for it or its people. Nigerians are daily faced with scarcity of petroleum products, and when available it is usually sold above government approved price per litre. In other OPEC countries, petroleum products are available for the people to buy at their government approved prices. This is so because the refineries in those countries are working and they do not depend on imported refined products. Again, this is not the case in Nigeria. Nigeria has four refineries, and non of them is working or producing petroleum products optimally. Infact, some of the refineries does not even produce any product. In other words, they are non-functional. This is due to many years of neglect and abandonment, which now has multiplier effect on the economy of the nation, employment rate and the quality of life of the people.
For instance, the average salary of Nigeria worker is affected. In Nigeria today, the minimum wage of public worker is as low as N18,000 and even at that, not all the state government are able to pay the approval N18,000 minimum wage to it workers. So, many workers receive far below the N18,000 minimum wage. Whereas, in other OPEC countries the least minimum wage is N23,000 when converted and this is Libya. In Irag, the minimum wage is equivalent to N25,000, in Algeria it is N55,000, in Iran it is N88,000, in Saudi Arabia it is N99,000, in Venezuela it is N95,000 while in Kuwait it is N161,000.
Among the OPEC members, Nigeria has the largest population of over 167 million people with vast human potentials and it produces between 2,250 and 3,000 barrel of crude oil per day. Nigeria is the second OPEC member with the highest pump price per litre of petrol, coming after Iran with its pump price at N102 equivalent. Venezuela has the lowest pump price of petrol which is the equivalent of N3,61 kobo. In Libya it is N26, in Saudi Arabia it is N25, in Kuwait it is N34.54 Kobo, while in Algeria it is N63.55 Kobo. In other OPEC countries, there is adequate infrastructure like good roads, electricity, public utilities like water, hospitals, schools that are functional and effective. The citizens of those countries live meaningful and quality life. Medical care is free in some OPEC countries and electricity supply is constant, and unemployment is low. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. The Nigeria leaders have mismanaged the nation’s resources from crude oil. Large sum of money have been embezzled into their personal account, leaving the majority of Nigerians of suffer. They continuously, while the civil and public servants are paid N18,000 or less minimum wage. Pensions are denied their pensions and gratuity and serving officers are promoted late and without its financial benefits.
In Nigeria today, the salaries and allowances of politicians is fabulous, and they enjoy other allowances like duty tour allowances, estacode and other right and privileges which are either provided or monetized.
The in-coming administration of General Mohammadu Buhari has a responsibility to address the disparity in wages of the civil servants who are of course the goose that lay the golden eggs, and that of the politicians who siphon the nation’s wealth and aggrandize it to themselves to the detriment of other fellow Nigerians. Political offices should be made less attractive in order to save the nation from unnecessary spending. It does not make sense if a politician who served the nation for only four years is paid pension or severance allowance and the civil servants who served the nation for 35 years cannot get his or her pension and gratuity after retirement. This is a misnormal in the system which must be corrected by the in-coming administration.
There is need to improve the quality of life of every Nigerian to the extent that they can afford the basic necessity of life such as food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care.
Desmond Agbama, Chairman Edo State Council, Nigeria Union of Journalists
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