OMOTAYO, J. A.    Lagos, NIGERIA    March 20, 2012

Good report on a skewed distribution of resources. But pity the poor Nigerians who have become helpless under the system. At N71 million ($454,500) per annum, the said senior staff's pay is equivalent to the pay of about 375 labour on N18,000 minimum wage. Yet there are those who earn N12,000 in some private establishments. Yet there are millions without employment! This skewed distribution does not start today.

In 1995, the highest paid Nigerian Engineer on the employment of Reid Crowther International earned less than N15,000 per month. Yet a fourth year undergraduate engineering student from Canada on Industrial Attachment was receiving N10,000 weekend allowance. At UTC Water & Power Engineering in 2002, the monthly pay package of Mr. Chebib, an expatriate, was equivalent to the combined pay of all Nigerian staff in the same department. The list is endless. In the case of Reid Crowther International, their hands were tied by Nigerians who employed them - the Lagos State Water Corporation.

The Management of the Corporation were said to be strongly opposed to the consultants desire to improve the pay package. Who knows whether other Nigerians who engage the services of the said oil and gas expatriates are behaving true to type? God save Nigeria.