Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) - Niger (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee refers to its observation in which it notes that the Government has not provided a report for the second consecutive year and again requests the Government to provide the following information in its next report.

1. Part V (Old-age benefit), Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention (in conjunction with either Article 65, or Article 66). In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to indicate the method of calculation of the reference wage used in determining the amount of old-age pension when the insured person, although fulfilling the conditions giving entitlement to a pension, laid down in section 13 of Decree No. 67-025 of 2 February 1967 (minimum age of 60 years, length of registration with the insurance scheme, cessation of all wage-earning activity), has been unable, for whatever reason, to pay contributions over the three or five years immediately preceding the qualifying date for the pension, laid down by section 15, subsection 1, of the above Decree for the calculation of the benefit. Since the Government did not provide a report and the information transmitted to the Conference Committee did not contain a detailed reply to this question, the Committee can only raise the matter again in the hope that the next report will contain detailed information on this matter and that it will also indicate the amount of the pension granted to a standard beneficiary when the periods of activity taken into consideration in establishing the eligibility of such a beneficiary for pension fall outside the three or five years immediately preceding the qualifying date for the pension.

2. Part VII of the Convention (Family benefit), Article 43 (length of qualifying period). The Committee has also pointed out over a number of years that sections 8 and 9 of Decree No. 65-116 of 18 August 1965, which prescribe a minimum qualifying period of six consecutive months of work with one or several employers for entitlement to family allowances, are not in conformity with the above-mentioned provision of the Convention. Under the Convention, family benefit must be secured at least to persons who have completed a qualifying period which may be three months of contribution or employment, or one year of residence, as may be prescribed by the national legislation.

In reply to these comments, the Government has stated several times that, owing to the current economic crisis, a reduction of the length of the qualifying period would constitute a threat to the financial equilibrium of the family allowance branch which has always registered a deficit because of the country's strong population growth, like other countries in the region. The Committee notes these statements but, while it is fully aware of the country's economic difficulties, it can only raise the question again in the hope that the Government will make every effort, particularly in the context of the actuarial study of the National Social Security Fund to be conducted shortly, to bring national legislation into full conformity with the Convention on this point (as has another country in the region which has ratified the Convention under this Part).

3. Part XIII (Common provisions), Article 69(b) (in conjunction with Articles 30 and 38). In reply to the Committee's previous comments, the Government had stated that national regulations contain no provision authorising the maintenance of old-age benefit and employment injury benefit in respect of the insured person's dependants when the insured person is serving a prison sentence. It none the less adds that the National Social Security Fund has undertaken a study with a view to amending section 23, subsection 2, of Decree No. 67-025 of 1967, which provides for the suspension of benefits in this case. The Committee, having noted this information with interest, expresses the hope once more that it will be possible to include a provision in the national legislation prescribing, in conformity with the Convention, that as long as the insured person is maintained at public expense (as is the case in imprisonment) and the amount of the benefits exceeds the cost of such maintenance, the benefit in excess of the value of the maintenance shall be granted to the dependants of the beneficiary.

4. Part XIV of the Convention (Miscellaneous provisions), Article 76. (a) In conjunction with Article 44. The Committee had noted the statistical data provided by the Government concerning the total value of the family allowances paid by the National Social Security Fund during the 1985-86 financial year. It again requests the Government to continue to provide such data in its future reports.

(b) In conjunction with Article 65 or 66. The Committee had requested the Government to provide statistical data in its future reports enabling it to ascertain the extent to which the amounts of old-age benefit, employment accident benefit and maternity benefit attain, during the period covered by these reports, the percentages prescribed by the Convention for a standard beneficiary (as appropriate, a man with a wife of pensionable age, a man with a wife and two children, a widow with two children or a woman alone); these percentages appear in the schedule to Part XI of the Convention. As the figures supplied are not sufficient to establish these percentages, the Committee again requests the Government to indicate in its next report, should it wish to avail itself of Article 65 of the Convention: (i) the amount of the wage of a skilled male manual worker and the amount of family allowances paid during employment; (ii) the amount of the benefits paid to a standard beneficiary for each of the above-mentioned contingencies, and the amount of the allowances to which the beneficiary would be entitled during the contingency in question. Should the Government wish to avail itself of Article 66 of the Convention, for the calculation of these benefits, it is requested to indicate the amount not of the wage of a skilled manual male worker but of the wage of an ordinary adult male labourer, and the amount of family allowances paid during employment, in addition to the other amounts referred to under point (ii) above (these data are required by the report form on the Convention under Article 65 or 66).