Nigeria dragged before International Labour Organisation over salary arrears

CAMPAIGN group the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (Serap) has dragged Nigeria before the International Labour Organisation (ILO) over the huge salary arrears that civil servants are owed across several states.

 

At the moment, about 18 of Nigeria's states owe their workers salary arrears, with some owing as much as a year's salary. Due to falling oil prices, the federal government is allocating less and less money to the states, making it impossible for them to clear the arrears, as the grants to not even match their running costs.

 

In addition, many of Nigeria's states are heavily indebted to banks, who deduct their repayments at source, further reducing the amount governors' get. Seeking the force the issue, Serap has asked the ILO to establish a commission of inquiry to examine the systematic and egregious non-observance of Convention No 29 on Forced Labour and other international standards on the right of workers to timely payment of salaries.

 

According to Serap, its complaint was brought pursuant to Articles 26-34 of the ILO Constitution and was copied to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Dated June 19, 2015, the complaint was signed by Serap's executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni and was addressed to Guy Ryder, the ILO director -general.

 

It read: “Serap is seriously concerned that several state governments and the federal government of Nigeria are failing and/or refusing to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements, amounting to billions of dollars in arrears. The state governments that have failed and/or refused to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements include Osun, Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue, and Bauchi States.

 

“Serap contends that the failure and/or refusal of state governments and federal government to pay workers’ salaries and allowances and pensioners’ entitlements is a clear violation of the right to work recognized by various ILO instruments and article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party. The right to work is essential for realising other human rights and forms an inseparable and inherent part of human dignity."

 

According to Serap, the failure of states to pay workers’ salaries is tantamount to penalising them, pointing out that as the International Labour Organisation has ruled, menace penalty amounts to forced labour and economic exploitation. Serap added that the failure to pay workers’ salaries amounts to a fundamental breach of the obligation to ensure the absence of forced labour and economic exploitation.