Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Further to its observation, the Committee notes that it has received a copy of the Wages Boards and Industrial Relations Act, 1990. It notes that the Act provides for the issue of Industrial Wages Board Orders fixing statutory minimum wages and statutory minimum conditions, for those industries in which it is found that the wages are unreasonably low or for which no adequate machinery exists for the effective regulation of wages or other conditions of employment. Section 11 of the Act specifies that no order shall contravene rights touching conditions of employment, holidays or wages conferred upon any worker by or under any other enactment or written law. The Act further provides for the establishment of a National Wages Board and Area Minimum Wage Committees for the federal states, and for Joint Industrial Councils for particular industries for the purpose of negotiating and reaching agreements relating to, amongst other matters, wages. The Board’s functions include, amongst others, examining the application to all unskilled workers of any agreed minimum wage rate in any specified area and carrying out specific investigations on matters referred to it by the Minister. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the sectors or industries covered by Industrial Wage Board Orders and the corresponding statutory minimum wage rates, as well as information on the activities of the National Wages Board as regards the application of the principle of equal remuneration between men and women for work of equal value. Please also furnish copies of Industrial Wage Board Orders establishing statutory minimum wages as well as any agreements concluded by Joint Industrial Councils.

2. The Committee notes from the Government’s report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW/C/NGA/2-3, page 14) that a National Committee of Women and Children had been set up to undertake a comprehensive review of all the laws in force in view of bringing them in line with CEDAW and to recommend appropriate amendments. It further notes that this National Committee has submitted its report to the federal Government together with a far-reaching draft law on the rights of women touching all aspects of CEDAW and that it is hoped that the Government will soon take action in this regard. The Committee hopes that the draft law will give full expression to the provisions of the Convention and requests the Government to furnish copies of the report of the National Committee on Women and Children and the draft law on the rights of women, and to keep it informed about the progress made in this regard.