When an indefinite general strike begins in Nigeria, a worker tells the BBC that it is impossible to survive on what the government proposes as the minimum wage, as it is not enough to buy a bag of rice.
Security guard Mallam Magaji Garba says he needs 50kg of rice, which costs 75,000 naira ($56; £44), to feed his family every month, before considering other expenses.
The minimum wage is currently 30,000 naira, which the government has offered to double.
Trade unions in Nigeria, under the aegis of the Nigeria Labor Congress and Trade Union Congress, are demanding that the amount be increased to 494,000 naira, which they say reflects current economic realities.
The Nigerian Information Minister says accepting union demands would paralyze the economy and lead to job losses because companies would not be able to pay their workers and would therefore have to close.
The strike caused disruption at the country’s busiest airport, Murtala Muhammed International in Lagos, with passengers saying they were stranded outside the domestic terminal.
Workers in healthcare, banking, aviation and other key sectors are expected to remain away from work, a move that will cripple the West African country’s economy.
Magaji, who works for the Ministry of Education in the northern city of Kano, says he and his family of 14 are struggling to survive.
“I appeal to the government to consider us and increase the minimum wage so that we can live and eat decently.
“It is not fair that we have senior government officials earning millions monthly and that younger workers earn so little and have difficulty feeding themselves.”
The 59-year-old said he sometimes has to walk to work because he doesn’t have money to pay for transport.
Nigerians have been hit by a double blow: the removal of a fuel subsidy and a collapse in the value of the naira since President Bola Tinubu took office a year ago.
Tinubu says the measures are necessary to reform the economy so that it functions better in the long term, but in the short term inflation has risen to almost 34%.
The government ended the policy of indexing the value of the naira to the US dollar, allowing it to depreciate dramatically. While 10,000 naira would have bought $22 last May, it will now only buy $6.80.
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