Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Nigeria (Ratification: 1974)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Legislation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that section 3(f) of the Labour Standards Bill, which will provide for equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, is still under review. The Committee hopes that the Labour Standards Bill, which has been pending since 2006, will be adopted soon, and requests the Government to ensure that the final version of the Bill gives full expression to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

Article 2. Minimum wage. With regard to its previous comments concerning the exclusion from the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2011, of establishments with less than 50 employees, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that future amendments to the National Minimum Wage Act will extend its coverage to the workforce that is currently excluded. The Government also reports that no survey or study has been carried out on the gender composition of small business establishments. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in extending the scope of the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2011, to those sections of the workforce currently excluded from its coverage. The Committee also requests the Government to examine whether women are disproportionally impacted by the exclusion of such establishments from the national minimum wage scheme and, if so, to provide information on any steps taken to address the consequences of such exclusion.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report contains no reply to its previous comments. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments initially made in 2015.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it has accepted the recommendation of the Pay Consolidation Committee and other bodies to redesign the existing job evaluation scheme. Noting that pay disputes in the public sector never refer to gender based pay discrimination, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures taken to ensure that the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value is taken into consideration in the redesigning of the job evaluation scheme, in particular that it does not only provide for equal remuneration for “equal”, “same” or “similar” work but also addresses situations where men and women perform different work that is nevertheless of equal value. The Committee requests the Government to provide more information on the measures taken or envisaged in that regard.

Monitoring and enforcement. The Committee wishes to recall that no society is free from discrimination and that the absence of complaints of gender based pay discrimination stated by the Government in its report is likely to indicate a lack of an appropriate legal framework, lack of awareness of rights, lack of confidence in or absence of practical access to procedures, or fear of reprisals (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 870). Consequently, the Committee requests the Government to identify the applicable substantive and procedural provisions related to the implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, and to provide information on measures taken to ensure that such provisions, in practice, allow claims to be brought successfully. The Committee also requests the Government to collect and publish information on the nature and outcome of equal remuneration complaints and cases, as a means of raising awareness of the above provisions, and in order to examine the effectiveness of their procedures and mechanisms.

Statistics and reports. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that surveys carried out in the public sector did not reveal any discrimination in remuneration between men and women. In this regard, the Committee recalls that appropriate data and statistics are crucial in determining the nature, extent and causes of unequal remuneration, to set priorities and design appropriate measures, to monitor and evaluate the impact of such measures, and to make any necessary adjustments (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 891). The Committee requests the Government to provide statistics on the earnings of men and women, disaggregated by sex, economic sector and occupational category, as well as studies or reports addressing the issue of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value in the private as well as the public sectors.