CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this research work was to examine the effects of salaries and wages on motivation of workers for the productivity of workers in the Nigerian civil service. The case study adopted was Calabar Municipality Local Government Council, Cross River State.

Pay as a motivator has a very strong positive effect on the productivity of the Nigerian workers. For most employees pay has a direct bearing upon their standard of living and upon their status and recognition. Pay also constitutes a quantitative measure of their relative worth in comparison with their fellow employees. Since the difference of a few kobo can affect these rankings, employees can be quite sensitive to such differences. That is why the Nigerian workers are likely to increase productivity if financial rewards are tied to a measurable level of their work efforts or productivity. The Nigerian worker is even willing to work overtime to produce more if he knows he will earn more income.

Unfortunately, the government has acquired the unenviable reputation of being very slow in meeting workers’ demands. The workers have not been getting their labour’s worth, and they are often not paid when it is due. That is why the Nigerian workers resist any move to deny them entitlements that are due them. They reject less pay for higher effort or outright denial of their rightful benefits. The Nigerian workers would therefore protest these inequities through go-slow, work-to-rule, and outright strike. Obviously, pay constitutes an element of motivation and can influence employees work behavior and attitudes, and it may affects their decision to work more productively.

This study is divided into five parts which are spread across five chapters namely, introduction, review of related literature, research design and methodology, data presentation and analysis, summary, conclusion and recommendation.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A research problem is an interrogative statement which asks about the relationship between two or more variables that create a particular state of affairs. It should be started in question form because it has the added advantages of sharpening the issue which of course, is different from the problem of the research. (Odu and Thejlamiazu, 2001:12)

Based on the forgoing, the statement of the problems is given below:

Has pay had any effect as a motivator and what are its impacts on productivity within Calabar Municipal Local Government Council?