Make no mistake about it; Nigeria is like a very gigantic man who perhaps became large as a result of his nature. However, when such a person steps out, people mistake his huge nature for riches. The result is that you cannot tell whether he needs assistance or not because he may sometimes pretend to maintain what people think of him.
I have taken some time to understudy, the Nigeria workforce and I am putting a preposition that 85 percent of the nation’s workforce earns less than 150 US dollars in a mouth. Take for instance, the Nigeria civil service, which presumably has the highest number of workers, a fresh graduate enters the workforce at salary grade level 08 which amounts to nothing less 150 dollars in a month, the same goes with other similar government agencies with some variations. The private sector in Nigeria is even worse; a teacher working in a private school earns less than 100 dollars in a mouth.
This is why it will be logically wrong to blame anybody who spends his or her last card to travel aboard (especially the western countries). A friend of mine, who travelled to US few months ago, just got a causal job but he earns higher than a professor in Nigeria, yes; it is true that some do not succeed when they get there.
It is important to state here that it is difficult to fight corruption with the current pay structure. It takes only God to stop a man who have no house of his own, who cannot afford his children school fees or who even find it difficult to feed, not to steal from government. This even multiplies when such a person watches government retirees on television begging for their pension in anguish.
Every reasonable person will stand and wait for his turn in a queue when he knows that what he is waiting for will go round everyone present at equal share, but if they notice that it will not go round, they will likely start a fight to cut corners. To succeed in the fight against corruption therefore government must denial her workforce the moral rectitude to steal. There should be a deliberate policy to better the lots of everyone in the labour force of government. As it is today, 95 percent of Nigerians are seeking for job because those who are working are not satisfied with their current pay. It is possible for us to develop a system where no matter where you are working; the wage will be enough to pay your bills.
To achieve the above objective the government should harmonize the public service salary structure so that their pay will be relatively equal, with it, people will not take the pain of seeking for better jobs, so that we can at least concentrate on those who have no job at all.
In another development, government cannot provide all the jobs needed to bring about development; hence it should create an enabling environment for businesses to thieve. She (the government) cannot achieve this without employing competent staff. I think it is high time we realize that incompetence and corruption are brothers. The best way to kill a company is to hire incompetent workforce, the same also goes to a nation. It was Ludwig Von Mises who said that “there is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men”.
A motivated workforce is a bonus to the growth of the nation, therefore if the fight against corruption will ever succeed, government must deny its workforce the moral right to steal and this can only be achieved by paying them the wages that can take care of their basic needs.
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