CMNT_TITLE

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Nigeria (RATIFICATION: 1960)

Other comments on C095

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 2 of the Convention. Scope of application. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that homeworkers continue to be excluded from the application of the Labour Act, 1990 (Cap. 198). As for domestic servants, it remains unclear whether any ministerial regulations have so far been issued, as provided for under section 65 of the Labour Act. The Committee notes, however, that the Labour Standards Bill, the adoption of which has been pending since 2005, extends its scope to domestic servants and homeworkers. In the absence of information concerning the current situation with regard to the Labour Standards Bill, the Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any progress made towards its adoption.

Articles 6 and 12(1). Prohibition of limiting workers’ freedom to dispose of their wages. The Committee notes that the Government does not provide any new information with regard to the discretionary power of the Minister for Employment, Labour and Productivity under section 35 of the Labour Act to allow the payment of wages due to a recruited worker to be deferred until the completion of the contract. The Committee wishes to reiterate in this connection that, under such deferred pay system, the freedom of workers to dispose of their wages is manifestly impeded as to where and when they may spend their wages, since up to 50 per cent of these wages would not be available, neither in the place in which they are earned nor at the time they are due. It is therefore essential to ensure that such deferred payments are only operated on a purely voluntary basis. The Committee refers in this regard to paragraphs 179–184 of the 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages. Noting that the Labour Standards Bill does not appear to reproduce the provision of section 35 of the Labour Act, the Committee hopes that the new draft labour legislation, once adopted, will be fully aligned with the requirements of the Convention in this respect.

Article 12. Regular payment of wages. The Committee understands that many States in the country, including Abuja, Enugu and Oyo, are experiencing serious problems of accumulated wage arrears or other difficulties with the timely payment of wages in different economic sectors, such as telecommunications, education and health care. Workers are repeatedly facing several months of salary arrears and numerous protests have taken place recently. The Committee wishes to recall the importance of ensuring the timely and full payment to workers of the wages due for work already performed or services already rendered, and wishes to refer to paragraph 355 of the abovementioned General Survey in which it noted that the accumulation of wage debts clearly contravenes the letter and the spirit of the Convention and renders the application of most of its other provisions simply meaningless. The Committee consequently requests the Government to take appropriate measures, such as reinforcing supervision and strengthening sanctions, to contain and progressively eliminate such practices. The Committee also requests the Government to provide detailed information, including statistical data, on the total amount of outstanding payments, the approximate number of workers concerned, the sectors and regions most affected, and the average length of time involved in late payments.

Articles 13(1) and 14(b). Place and time of payment and issue of wage statement. The Committee notes that neither the Labour Act nor the Labour Standards Bill seems to address the issues of the place and time of wage payment, as well as the requirement for a wage statement to be issued at the time of each payment of wages. The Committee requests the Government to take appropriate measures in the ongoing process of labour law reform in order to ensure that: (i) the payment of wages where made in cash is made on working days only and at or near the workplace; and (ii) workers are informed in an appropriate and easily understandable manner of the particulars of their wages for the pay period concerned at the time of each payment of wages.