Yesterday, Nigerians on Twitter had the biggest argument about Nigerian restaurants and tipping culture. This conversation was triggered by this week's edition on Naira Life on Zikoko, where the subject was a 32-year-old waiter at an upscale restaurant in Lagos.

For context, Zikoko Naira Life is a weekly series exploring the financial lives of Nigerians across different cultures and experiences. One of the highpoints of this interview was where the interviewee described the highest restaurant bill he has ever encountered in comparison to his salary, and how tips factored into his cumulative monthly earnings.

In response to this, members and consumers of the service industry had polarizing opinions on this topic.

Nigerians are not usually willing to part with their money, but they also understand that parting with cash sometimes is the only guarantee of getting good service. From the kids on your street to the gateman at your regular restaurants, you are expected to show appreciation and goodwill by “dashing” money.

If you dine out regularly in cities around Nigeria, you have probably come across rudeness, microaggressions (especially to women), and terrible food. Even some supposedly upscale places offer better aesthetics than customer service.

In addition to these issues, compulsory tipping will require customers to either leave their change behind or also tip the restaurant waitstaff. For this reason, many believe that it’s impossible to foster a tipping culture where good service is not enforced.

For service people, earning tips might be the only way to break even at the end of the month, considering that some restaurants pay minimum wage. Their lives literally depend on tips, so the question is should customers have to bear the burden of closing the gap left by their employers?

Some Nigerians weighing in on the tipping conversation are more concerned that it points to elitism, after all, an average Nigerian who goes out to spend money on food should not have to dip further into their resources to tip people, especially at the 10-20% American standard. 

Wherever you stand on the tipping issue, one thing is clear: dining out is a luxury to most Nigerians, and there’s a bigger systemic issue of everyone not having enough purchasing power all around. Maybe that’s why this is so controversial.