 Solidarity! Solidarity! I'm greatly honoured to be here today to be a part of these proceedings. The Labour Congress is one of the most important constituencies in our country. And as the premier organisation of Working Class Nigerians, it is a key stakeholder in our quest for national progress. And I believe that the Nigerian Labour Congress deserves our commendation for maintaining this tradition of hosting the denigrates conference over the years and taking on the complex plethora of issues that would shape the future that we want for ourselves, our children and for the coming generations. The theme for this year's conference, building people power, national unity and the quest for a social contract, building people power, national unity and the quest for a new social contract, is entirely appropriate for the times that we're in. It's not just relevant to our own nation, but it is so for the entire international system. All over the world, we have seen nations rocked by people power movements. People are demanding change, systemic change, be it political, social or economic. The last decade started off with the Arab Spring in the Middle East, with Occupy Wall Street in the west. Over the past few years, we have seen other people power movements disrupt national life and cause policy shifts. The Yellow Vests protests in France, in Nigeria. The story has not been any different. In 2012, we saw Occupy Nigeria protests super cross the nation. And in the midst of COVID-19 in 2020, we witnessed the end SARS protests. And people power is not just street protests. It is the free press holding power to account. It is popular culture, music and other artistic genres deployed in political and social satire, or put differently. It is the creation and protection of the civic space. The civic space, if I may borrow the definition of civics, is I quote the place be it physical, virtual and legal, where people exercise their rights to freedom of association, expression and peaceful ourselves by forming associations, by speaking out on issues of public concern, by gathering together in online and offline fora and by participating in public decision making, end of quote. Also the maintenance of the civic space is fundamental to the promotion of robust engagement across society and with civil authorities with a view to continually fine tuning the social contract. The labor union and other groups that are charged with the protection of economic, civil and political rights must vigilantly prioritize the protection of the civic space. Aside from open official attacks on the civic space and fundamental rights, it is often the case in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies such as ours that already existing ethnic and religious fault lines are manipulated for social and political advantage and sometimes with disastrous consequences of civil strife and communal conflicts. This is one of the reasons why the NLC is such an important institution. It is precisely because your members are united by shared vocations as working-class Nigerians, an occupational identity that cuts across lines of ethnicity, of religion and gender that the Congress is a veritable pan-Nigerian institution and this is a critical edge that the NLC must not lose. The NLC must never lose that critical edge, the fact that it represents Nigerians across ethnic, across religious and across gender lies. I go as far as to argue that the Congress and other pan-Nigerian organizations are far more representative of the lived experience of our people than the one-dimensional groups that tend to define us narrowly as members of ethnic communities or members of faiths or creeds. Indeed, those who hold on pathologically to our differences as a sole breed for defining our national condition are missing the evolving realities on the ground. The fact is that despite the divisive rhetoric of demagogues and the utterances of those who profit from this harmony, Nigerians do not hate each other. Every day, millions of Nigerians, united by their common causes and problems and the common issues, despite ethnicities, faiths, co-mingle, they make common cause and forge friendships across our fabled false lives. They partner to do business, to engage in philanthropy and to advance their political goals. They are trading into marrying migrating across this land in such a better livelihoods, in our markets, in our motor parks, in our business centers, in popular culture and in our social spaces. A Nigerian identity has emerged that transcends ethnicity and religion. Politicians, politicians who continue to traffic indivision and discord are behind the times and are failed to take note of how much more integrated our society has become. I submit to you that it is the elite of our nation that must adjust themselves to this reality and conduct their politics accordingly. We are obviously not as united as we should be, but national integration is a journey and we are further along that journey than where we were six decades ago. Our destinies have become so interlinked as to become inseparable. This is why our administration, this administration's investment in transportation infrastructure, in roads, in rail, in sea and river ports, which reduce the distances between our people and link localities to markets and enable trade and travel and tourism are more than just infrastructural connections. The bridges are also social bridges and cultural roads and railways, crisscrossing our vast capacity of dialects, of foods, of music, of dances, of costumes and of moors. It bears reemphasizing that Nigeria is neither unique nor exceptional on account of her diversity. The general of scholarship and public polemic that makes a problem of our country's many ethnicities and religion and makes it a flaw is one which most of us, I'm sure, differ strongly. Our diversity is neither in liability nor a curse. It's in fact a blessing and an asset and diversity deepens the pool of sociocultural capital that's available to us and we're enriched by the frothy ferment of the vast multiplicity of perspectives which provide us with a treasury of tools for innovation and productivity. It is fair to say that countries that have learned to hack the diversity principle are leading the global race for prosperity and progress. What is at issue in our nation is not and has never been our diversity but it is our capacity to manage it with a sense of fairness, equity and justice. It is equity and justice that people demand. It is to be treated with respect that people demand of governments and that people demand of authorities. There is no denying that diversity can be a harbinger of friction. That is natural. As different groups from various backgrounds and with different worldviews mingle, the interaction is characterized by a degree of tension and even conflict. All diverse nations find their unique ways of managing these tensions which inevitably arise from co-mingling of an assortment of peoples. But let me speak briefly to the issue of the social contract because we're expected to consider how to create and continue to fine tune a new social contract. First, there is a constitutional basis for this covenant between government and the government. A constitution says and I quote that the security and welfare of the Nigerian people shall be the primary purpose of government. End of quote. The second chapter of the constitution on direct principles and objectives of state policy elaborates on the thematic areas of social and economic covenants that bind the Nigerian state and the society. To summarize, its deliverables include accessible qualitative education for the unlettered, affordable healthcare for the sick, inclusion for the alienated, social mobility for the poor, justice for the wrong, security for the vulnerable, and freedom for all. It highlights a social vision in which no Nigerian is left behind and where the state erects a canopy of inclusive and broad-based prosperity in which the security and welfare of the citizen is guaranteed. The covenant, of course, contemplates the citizen's obligations to obey laws, to pay taxes, to respect social order, and the right of others. While social inclusion and shared prosperity appear simple enough, it is the creation of an environment that enables talent, innovation, and commerce to thrive that produces the wealth and prosperity, the jobs and the opportunities necessary to pay for the social contract. In other words, the social contract by itself means nothing unless we produce the environment, the business and commercial environment that is able to pay the price of that social contract. And this is where the rubber meets the road. We have to surmount our product productivity problem. 200 million people only generating 25 billion US dollars in collective revenue is far too small. We need, of course, to fine-tune our economic plan, especially the prioritization of value addition. We simply must encourage value addition. We must encourage the private sector. For example, in agriculture, our focus had always been on the export production and export of raw produce. But we must focus, as we have begun to in the past few years, focus on adding value, adding value to raw produce, which means more jobs and the value chain makes more money. Same as mining. We need more beneficiation in mining. We cannot continue to export raw minerals. The beneficiation process is what actually creates the opportunities. It is that process of adding value that adds jobs and brings about the prosperity that a mining nation ought to have. Already, we have seen a few investments in gold refining, for example. Manufacturing, especially light manufacturing, is key. But we, Nigeria, can be the factory for this continent. As China is the factory of the world, Nigeria can be the factory for Africa and then become the factory as we go along for the rest of the world. We have been discussing the prospects already of zero taxes for machinery, generally. Because whenever you import a machine, it is meant to produce. There is no other thing that you do with a machine except to produce something or to use it for some productive purpose. So there might be no need to tax machines. And some of the arguments have gone back and forth and I think that we are coming to a realization that we can't introduce zero taxes for several of the types of machinery, especially those that we use for purposes of production. We must, of course, encourage investments in information and communication technology, creative industry, tourism, amongst others. And we've seen already the growth of the unicorns in our midst from 2015 to now, six Nigerian companies established by young men and women all under the age of 35 and now are credited as billion-dollar companies. And these are the companies that are called the unicorns, the fintechs in the tech industry. If in seven years, now going eight years, we can have six companies that are rated around the world as being worth over a billion dollars. Some even worth three billion dollars. The sky is surely the limit. There is plenty of opportunity for growth in our country. Industries, we must be able to create the environment for our enabling industry. In some government policy must be geared towards making Nigeria a value-earning economy, especially in all of the areas of comparative advantage. It's important to loosen generalized restrictions on trade. Blanket import restrictions, some of which we've seen dampen up to economic activity because a lot of items that by merely the manufacturing might be affected with the consequent negative impact on value-addition. Importation itself is not the problem. It is what you import and what you do with it. Most countries of the world that are major producers and major manufacturers are also major importers. The important thing is what you do with what is imported. And this is how well-paying jobs and wealth can be created. No nation can improve the quality of life of its people without producing more, without removing barriers to business and commerce. But the social covenant also importantly must provide for those who cannot work. Our social covenant this new compact must provide for those who cannot work. And it will seem that only an intentionally progressive left-of-center ideological bed can without losing its soul deliver on this aspect of the covenant. And many of us here especially those of us of the old school talk a lot about ideology and I think that it is correct for us to talk about ideology. There's no question that we must. The only thing is that we cannot be doctrinaire. What's important to understand that they are that central to the care of our people and central to the care of millions of people, especially those that cannot work are some of those left of center ideas that have made countries all over the world, other countries, countries where their people are respected and countries where their people are treated fairly. It is my view that this in the end and in our case the ideological spectrum that we occupy, our own party, the APC, and I'm sure our PDP people will complain but I believe that the ideological spectrum that the APC occupies is the one that can produce this sort of ideologies. Of course, we are subverted here and there many times but I must say to you that the one party and this is evident from our manifesto. When we drew up our manifesto we were the one party in our manifesto that tried to lay the foundations of a state that is committed to social protection. We put up there in our manifesto a home grown school feeding program where we said all children in public schools must have one meal a day all children across Nigeria in public schools must be entitled to one free meal every single day and we made budgetary provisions for that. We made provisions for our MPAR program and we applied youth programs such as the MPAR for at least now a million children a million young people but we must do more. This is a country where over 1.5 million people are coming to the job market every year so we must make more provisions. We made provisions for the government empowerment and enterprise program where for the first time credit was given to informal traders that made it possible to give credit to informal traders to track the credit and show that they paid back and many of them paid back and to ensure that they were able to consistently receive credit. In the past when we talk about credit only formal businesses are given credit. The banks should not recognize the informal trader but it is by thinking through what is required for the disempowered banks to be able to come up with the government enterprises and empowerment program and of course the conditional cash transfer program and all of that. We benefited from Lula in Brazil because the conditional cash transfer program is the same as the Bossa Familias that Lula in Brazil implemented and we adopted that same program here and of course we have been thinking of expanding that program. We established the National Commission on Disabilities and the National Center for Senior Citizens to cater for the needs of our compatriots that live with disabilities and our elders. I think that to a certain extent this is the demonstration of a commitment to inclusion especially of groups that have long been relegated to the margins. In a democratic society the ultimate demonstration and I think that this is basic we must ensure that our society have a voice. The Labour Congress of course is that voice for those who are in the former working groups but the Labour Congress must extend its reach to the very weakest in our society the informal traders those who have no voice who have no former voice because they must be represented and they form the vast majority of the working classes of our people. But the ultimate demonstration of the power of the people is the right to freely elect leaders of our choice. It is through the instrumentality of the ballot that citizens regulate and discipline their leaders and hold them to account and in a few weeks Nigeria will have the opportunity to demonstrate that power by voting candidates and parties that we believe in and who can manifest the future and I believe that that is a role that the Labour Congress again fits that we must ensure that not only do we ensure not only an election fair and fair we must also promote the rights of people to even today possess their PVCs there are many places now where people are saying we still don't have PVCs we still don't have PVCs perhaps there is a need for the Labour Congress to make an organization of INEC and the resources to ensure that everybody who wants to vote actually has a PVC before the date of the elections. I wish you fruitful deliberations and I urge you at the end of this conference with a framework that will guide organized labour in Nigeria in the coming decades. Thank you very much and God bless you.