Photograph — Aboki FX

Nigeria celebrated its annual workers day last week, and once again, the debate on increasing the wages of its civil servants reared its ugly/beautiful head (depending on which side of the divide you belong) up again.

There have been complaints from many quarters and private citizens that Nigerian public servants do the bare minimum at their jobs. Now there seems to be an explanation for that; financial house Financial Derivative Company limited published a report last week, one that concluded that Nigeria’s workers are not motivated enough on their jobs due to low pay.

The Financial Derivative Company Limited, a financial advisory company based in Lagos, compared the GDP per hour of six countries, namely Norway, Luxembourg, Nigeria, the US, Belgium and the Netherlands, with the minimum wage by dollar per month in these countries. The assessment discovered that there was a direct correlation between Nigerian workers receiving the lowest minimum wage from the six countries, and also having the least GDP per hour.
For so long, labor unions and trade unions in Nigeria have called for the government to increase the public minimum wage for public workers, including as recently as Tuesday’s Nigerian Workers day celebrations. Now, they have a genuine reason backed up with evidence.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index, for the week ending 4th of May 2018. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy:

Nigerian Stock Exchange


Data released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as of 4th of May 2018, showed that the All Share Index depreciated by 0.06 percent from the previous week ending 27th April 2018. Market capitalization at the close of trading during the week under review was N14,931 trillion which was a 0.06 percent decrease from N14.940 trillion recorded the previous week. The All Share Index for the week under review closed at 41,218.72

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:
Top five price gainers
C & I Leasing Plc.
Unity Bank Plc.
Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc.
Cement Co. of North. Nig. Plc.
Beta Glass Plc.
Top five price decliners
Dangote Flour Mills Plc.
Eterna Plc.
Prestige Assurance Co. Plc.
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.
Regeny Alliance Insurance Plc.

How did the Naira fare?


In the week under review, the Naira remained stable against the Dollar in the parallel market. It was sold at N360/$ on Friday 4th of May 2018, maintaining the same value it recorded on the 27th of April 2018.

How did the price of oil fare?


Global oil prices declined slightly, even as they went down from $74.62. per barrel during the week ending 27th of April to $73.89 on the week ending 4th of May 2018. However, the long term gain of oil prices will rest much on the US-Iranian Nuclear deal signed in 2016 by the Obama administration. The US pulling out of the Nuclear deal will push up Oil prices. Analysts say the price hike has already begun; as OPEC seems to be driving prices high in anticipation of Donald Trump pulling out of the deal.

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