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The Committee notes the brief information provided by the Government in February 2008 in reply to its previous observation.

Staff of the labour inspectorate and effectiveness of the inspection system. In its previous observation, the Committee requested the Government to describe the manner in which the status and conditions of service of the inspection staff assure them of stability of employment and make them independent of changes of government and of improper external influences, in accordance with Article 6 of the Convention. It also asked the Government to indicate the conditions applying to their recruitment and the arrangements for their initial and subsequent training (Article 7), and their numbers and geographical distribution. Out of a concern to be provided with useful information for the evaluation of the level of application of the Convention, the Committee also requested the Government to indicate the extent to which the numbers of inspectors allowed them to discharge their functions effectively (Article 10). It notes that, according to the Government, during the period ending 1 September 2007, the inspection staff consisted of 384 labour and factory inspectors distributed throughout the country (in the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 States of the Federation). With regard to their training, the Government merely indicates that they are recruited by the Federal Civil Service Commission, like other senior officers, that new recruits are given induction courses and that their training during employment depends on the availability of funds. The Government nevertheless affirms that inspections have been effective as the level of compliance by employers with the provisions of the labour legislation has improved.

No details on the content of the training provided to labour inspectors has been provided for many years and the most recent inspection report to have reached the ILO was dated 13 years ago, despite the repeated requests by the Committee in this respect. Furthermore, no information has been provided by the Government on the measures requested on many occasions by the Committee for the publication and communication of an annual report, as envisaged in Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. In its 2003 direct request, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to the need for certain essential information to be available to be able to assess the level of coverage of the labour inspection services and, accordingly, the level of application of the Convention. It therefore once again emphasized the need for an annual report to finally be published and communicated to the ILO.

The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on: (i) the composition and geographical distribution by grade and by sector of activity of the staff of the labour inspectorate, with an indication of the number of women; (ii) the content of the initial training and the qualifications of the personnel of the inspection services; (iii) the measures adopted by the central inspection authority to seek the resources necessary for the training of men and women inspectors during their employment; and (iv) the measures adopted to give effect to Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention respecting the publication and communication to the Office of an annual report on the work of the inspection services.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would also indicate the information available to it which enables it to affirm, on the one hand, that labour inspection activities are effective and, on the other, that there has been an improvement in the level of compliance with the labour legislation.

With reference to its 2007 comment on the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide all available information, including statistical data, on the activities of the labour inspection services in this field in the industrial and commercial workplaces covered by labour inspectors in accordance with the present Convention and the relevant national legislation, as well as on the impact of these activities.