CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the detailed information and statistics on the calculation of the level of benefits provided by the Government in its report in 2004. With regard to the situation of the legislation respecting social security in Niger, it notes certain problems in the application of the provisions of the Convention that it has been raising for several years concerning, among other matters, the qualifying conditions for old-age benefit and family benefit, for which appropriate responses or solutions have still not been found. With regard to the calculation of benefits, it is almost impossible to assess whether the level prescribed by the Convention is attained due to the fact that the reference wage of a standard beneficiary is not determined according to the precise methodology set forth in Article 66 of the Convention, but as a function of the minimum guaranteed interoccupational wage (SMIG), which has not been increased since 1980. Finally, pensions have not been adjusted for over 25 years to take into account the inflation that has occurred over that period and to follow fluctuations in the general level of earnings, as the adjustment of pensions is subject under the law to changes in the level of the SMIG. The Committee is addressing all of these matters in detail in a request addressed directly to the Government. Furthermore, it draws the Government’s attention to the possibility of having recourse to ILO technical assistance.