 Your Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Imo State representing the Governor today, Professor Placid Ijoko, Your Excellency, the Governors of Abia and Eboni States, who are also well represented here, are hosts, the Honorable Minister of Labor and Employment Senate Ocresingige and his colleague, the Honorable Minister of State for Labor and Employment, Oluro Ogunferstos Keamo, S.A.M. The Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Issa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the President of the Nigeria Labor Congress, Comrade Ayuba Philip Oswaba, the President of the Trade Union Congress, Comrade Quadri Olalaya, the Country Director of the International Labor Organization, Dr. David Kouabla Dokeino, Honored Guests, Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am especially honored to present to you today the opening speech of his Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Mohamed Abu Hari. So I will read his speech, I'll be presenting his speech. It's my pleasure to join you at this opening ceremony of the National Labor Advisory Council 2021. This day has certainly been long coming as they, this day has been long coming as the NALAC has been dominant for the past seven years. But there couldn't be a better time for the resumed convocation of the council, especially given the great challenges and the new opportunities in the world of work today. I note that the NLAC has its roots in the 1976 International Labor Organization ILO Convention No. 144 on Tripartite Consultation International Labor Standards, which has been designated as a governance priority convention due to its importance to the functioning of the International Labor Standards System that provides benchmarks for best practices in labor and related matters. Also, this convention promotes the application of the founding principle of the ILO, which established the bringing together of governments, employers and workers through Tripartite social dialogue to develop, implement and promote international labor standards governing all aspects of the world of work. I'm pleased to note that Nigeria has ratified this convention and is today practicing its provisions. So we can, without equivocation, assert that Nigeria supports tripartism in labor relations as a fundamental pillar of good governance. The benefits of the NLAC are enormous. First, they provide a chance for the tripartite actors to take advantage of the culture of dialogue promoted by the council in the world of work and use the council to strengthen the span of workplace cooperation and entrench social peace. Perhaps this could reduce strikes as a default mode in trade disputes. Strikes have proved to be disruptive and notably dangerous, especially on account of the fragility of our economies in the wake of the COVID-19 fallout. Besides strikes inflict an adverse spiral effect on job retention and creation, all of which we simply cannot afford at this time. Also by its structure and mode of operations, the council compels informed decisions based on social consultation, which is anchored in cooperation between trade unions, governments and employers in public policy making. Clearly such a process will lead to an end result that would meet less resistance from stakeholders in implementation. The council also represents a platform for genuine consultations about international labor standards and several other issues, many of which are areas of divergence that lead to trade disputes. I'm proud of Nigeria standing at the ILO and her adoption of all the eight core fundamental conventions, two of the four governance priority conventions and 30 technical conventions. I encourage you as a unified body to use this medium to advance the 2030 sustainable goals agenda, particularly goals 1, 5, 8, 10 and 16, with their relevant subzue targets as well as agenda 2063 of the Africa Union. I also strongly believe that the composition of the council presents a unique opportunity to build trust and to find common cause in the labor and auxiliary matters for the good of the nation. This tripartite constituency should also ensure that the nation complies with the provisions of article 19 and 22 of the ILO of the ILO constitution on reporting by member states to ensure that the problem of report arrears do not become a recurring issue before the ILO. I also want to thank the social partners immensely for their cooperation, especially as the fallouts of the pandemic devastated our economy in 2020. The incidence of retrenchments and declaration of redundancy was not as much as was initially feared and workers also showed understanding in the demands that they made. Our government has always been and we remain resolutely committed to the welfare of workers. Indeed one of our first actions in office was a massive bailout to states the majority of which were owing workers salaries in many cases for between six and 12 months. As federal government we ensured that despite two cycles of recessions in six years and severely dwindled national resources no jobs were lost for this reason. Indeed we not only implemented a new national minimum wage but we also last year put forward legislation that was passed by the National Assembly that ensured that minimum wage earners would pay no income tax. As most are aware we established the largest social investment program in sub-Saharan Africa and we have since expanded many of its component programs including the conditional cash transfers for the poor from 2.6 million from 2.6 million households 13 million persons to 7.2 million households about 30 million persons and COVID-19 rapid response for the urban poor which now has 4 million households or 20 million persons. Through the federal minister of industry trade and investment there is the entrepreneurial support program which includes vulnerable workers amongst the urban poor. We also have the artisan support fund the payroll support fund for small-scale businesses business formalization also aimed at encouraging micro-small and medium enterprises by offering free registration for upcoming businesses by the corporate affairs commission that's the CAC. We also have the guaranteed off-take stimulus scheme for small-medium enterprises government guarantees and this involves government guarantees to buy off an agreed number of items such as masks and PPAs and package food to encourage MSMEs in light manufacturing. Also the national youth investment fund for young entrepreneurs the fund is in the order of 75 billion Naira all aimed at supporting the young labor force. We also intend to expand the empire program from the present 500,000 beneficiaries to 1 million beneficiaries and the central bank of Nigeria has activated its programs in agriculture and manufacturing. In addition to these remedial policies we will continue to consider and utilize the four pillars of the ILO policy framework to tackle the COVID-19 crisis in our journey to build back better that which was destroyed by the pandemic. pillar one to stimulate the economy and employment pillar two to support enterprises jobs and incomes pillar three to protect workers in the workplace and pillar four which refers to tripartite gatherings such as these to enhance and utilize social dialogue for solutions. As I close I must mention that perhaps we could take the opportunity of these meetings now and in the future to consider the implications of the rapid and fundamental changes to the world of work occasioned by first by technology disruptive innovation and lately as a result of the COVID-19 induced changes to the way we work. These issues will fundamentally define the future of work and the relations among social partners in the coming years. Predictive social consultation might be the way to go. I congratulate and commend the under minister of labor and employment and the on-room minister of state for labor and employment and their team for their insightful planning and organization of this meeting and for all the very hard work and diligence that they have shown in the handling of the numerous labor and employment issues that have come that have come to them in the course of their work. It is now my special pleasure to declare this conference open. Thank you very much. The on-room minister of labor and employment will inaugurate the members of the council on my behalf. I wish you all fruitful and happy deliberations. Thank you.