Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

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

Article 1 of the Convention. Legislation. The Committee notes that, while the Government briefly indicates that it has noted its comments to ensure the principle of the Convention is reflected in any new labour legislation, the Government provides no further information in this respect. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on measures taken to ensure any forthcoming national legislation in the area of labour law, including the Labour Standards Bill that has been pending since 2008, gives full expression to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Please provide information in this regard.

Article 2. Minimum wage. The Committee notes the Government’s justification for limiting the application of the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2011, to establishments with 50 or more employees, which is to encourage small-scale establishments to grow. In this regard, the Committee emphasizes that while a uniform national minimum wage system helps to raise the earnings of the lowest paid and therefore has an effect of reducing the gender pay gap, special attention is needed in the design or adjustment of minimum wage schemes to ensure that the rates fixed are free from gender bias (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 683). The Committee therefore invites the Government to provide any recent studies or surveys assessing the gender composition of small-scale business establishments to examine whether women are disproportionally impacted by the exclusion of such establishments from the national minimum wage scheme. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate measures taken to extend the scope of the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2011, to those sections of the workforce currently excluded from the coverage.

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.

Part III of the report form. 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 invites 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 invites 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.