Going by the discovery of the data mining agency of what a healthy meal costs in April, a civil servant on minimum wage would fall far short of a balanced diet.

Even the federal government’s latest ₦60,000 per month offer to labour as minimum wage will not suffice to keep an employee from near starvation. Going by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult a day measure, the total cost of a healthy diet far exceeds what can be guaranteed by the current minimum wage, or the government’s latest proposal that labour has scoffed at.

The CoHD diet, which NBS puts at a minimum ₦1,035 per day, excludes the cost of preparing the meal – transportation, and energy, among others. If these costs are included in the overall CoHD, the employee on minimum wage will have to resort to other means to close the gap or starve.

ALSO READ: Labour union wants a ₦494k minimum wage instead of FG’s weak offer

While releasing the research report on Wednesday, the data agency said the result is specifically for policy formulation purposes.

These stakeholders will devise strategies that tackle access, availability, and affordability of healthy diet effectively. Also, future research incorporating income can also be used to determine the proportion and number of the population that are unable to afford a healthy diet, the NBS said.

What the data gathering agency could however not run away from is that its research clearly shows that the ₦60,000 minimum wage offer by the government is grossly insufficient in guaranteeing a semblance of a healthy life for the worker. With inflation still galloping, in addition to the rising cost of transportation and rent, the worker is being buffeted on all sides with little to no buffer provided by the government.

CoHD has steadily increased since the maiden report by the bureau in October 2023, it said. The CoHD in April 2024 is 40 percent higher than what was recorded in October 2023 at ₦703 and 5 percent higher than CoHD in Mach 2024, which was ₦982. The food groups that have driven the increases in CoHD the most are vegetables, starchy staples, legumes, nuts and seeds. The cost of meeting the recommendations for oil and fats have changed the least since March 2024.

Animal protein, from the data gleaned from the report, rose higher than staples. Across states and regions, the increases differ. CoHD rose highest in the Southwest and lowest in the Northwest.

The National average Cost of a Healthy Diet was N1,035 in April 2024. This is 5.4% higher than the amount recorded in March 2024 (N982).
The average CoHD was highest in the South West at N1,406 per adult per day

Read the CoHD Report for April 2024 here: https://t.co/nhfGdXuszL pic.twitter.com/C2fTeKwiwX

— NBS Nigeria (@NBS_Nigeria) May 28, 2024

At the sub-national level, Ekiti, Ogun and Osun states recorded the highest CoHD at ₦1,483, ₦1,447, and ₦1,417, respectively. Kogi and Katsina recorded the lowest CoHD at ₦709, followed by Kaduna and Nasarawa states at ₦756 and ₦769.

ALSO READ: The simple workers’ diet that kept everyone going all year round

The Nigerian Labour Congress has threatened to go on strike to push across the reality of the difficulty the Nigerian worker is facing, made worse by the policies of the current administration.

Although the labour union’s initial demand of ₦600,000 as a monthly minimum has been reduced by about 20 percent, the government’s counteroffer falls far short of labour’s view of what could make a worker live decently.

Adewole Ojo

Adewole Ojo is the Editor-in-Chief of Meiza Nigeria. He can be reached on adewole.ojo@fourpoints.ng.