 Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by wishing us all gathered here today, mainly of our two federations of trade unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress, and the Trade Union Congress, a happy celebration of the May Day in solidarity with organized labour, the World Rover. I salute and pay tribute to you all, Nigerian workers and working families. It is your hard work, innovation, resilience and patriotism that has helped to build this nation to the place of greatness that it currently occupies. I must also seize this opportunity to acknowledge the historical contributions of the Nigerian working people and organized labour to the political, economic, social and cultural development of our nation. The Nigerian organized labour has always been in the forefront of the push for a better Nigeria from the struggles for independence right through to the climate for the restoration of democracy and the last 19 years for the sustenance of the freedoms guaranteed by our democracy. I must also say that the Nigerian organized labour has contributed largely and actively to what's helping Nigeria get out in record time from an economic recession, which bedevilled us especially through 2016. This administration has remained committed to improving the welfare of the Nigerian people. When we came into office, at least 22 states were owing salaries, some for a whole year. If you recall in November 2015, the president said and I quote, all my life I've always earned a salary. So I understand what it means when your salary is not paid or when it is not enough. Just last year, the president speaking to governors visiting him again went back to the issue of salaries and he said I don't know how any of you can go to sleep at night knowing that your workers have not been paid. The president's concern for workers is not theoretical or rhetorical, but one that is born out of experience and respect for the sweat of the working classes. This is why we evolve mechanisms to bail out all the 36 states of the federation to the tune of 1.91 trillion so far, including Paris Club repayments in recognition of the shortfalls in their finances arising in particular from the oil shocks of 2015 and 2016. We have extended this support regardless of party affiliation to enable the state settle the backlog of arrears and salaries and pensions of workers. At the inauguration of the National Economic Council in 2015, President Buhari publicly declared that our administration will support every state because poverty is no respect of ethnic group, party affiliation or religion. While we do recognize that the payment of salaries and pensions is essential, we are also conscious of the fact that the increasing cost of living and the recognition to ensure a fair and decent living wage has rendered the minimum wage instrument currently which is currently enforced obsolete. Accordingly, President Buhari on November 27, 2017 inaugurated a tripartite national minimum wage committee to negotiate the national minimum wage for our workers. As you are all aware, the subject of the national minimum wage for the federation is within the exclusive legislative list of the 1999 constitution, which means that it is the responsibility primarily of the federal government. Although there are arguments regarding fixing minimum wage in a federation such as ours, it is the responsibility of government to establish the necessary social protection for all Nigerian workers based on the ability of each chair of government to pay. The argument for a national minimum wage therefore cannot be falsified because the minimum wage is the minimum amount of compensation that an employee must receive for putting in these or her labor and as such it should be anchored on the principles of social justice, equity and fairness. We believe that those who can pay, we believe that those who can pay about the social protection floor are free to do so as many have been doing in many states and sectors of the economy. This administration has no intention of presiding over the dismantling of the gains of organized labor through the years especially almost four decades ago. It is our hope therefore that the tripartite committee comprising government, labor and the private sector will expedite its assignment to enable the federal government present an executive deal on a new national minimum wage to the national assembly for passage into law as soon as possible. In the meantime, the federal government and the state governments will continue to work together to improve the conditions of workers across the country. Great Nigerian workers, it will be belaboring the point to say that a viral organized labor is a vital institution for our nation at every point in its development. In our political and democratic evolution, a viral labor is a sign equivalent. In the interest of the men and women of our society who need a voice to speak loudly against economic or social injustice, labor must remain united. Let me seize this opportunity once again to reiterate this administration's commitment to the unity of the Nigerian organized labor, to serve as a bullwork against the visit forces internally and externally. Accordingly, it is my advice that the Nigerian labor movement must employ its leadership skills of conflict resolution and utilize all the internal mechanisms to resolve conflicts. Factionalization is not an option, it is not the answer. I must at this point appreciate the Nigerian labor movement for being a strong pillar of support for our anti-corruption agenda. The government recognizes the fact that indeed the first line real victims of corruption are Nigerian workers and working families along with the rural poor. They are the ones who suffer the most from the corruption of the political classes. It is regrettable that despite the enormous revenues that Nigeria has earned from oil in the recent past, we still have problems with payment of salaries and pensions of workers largely due to mismanagement and corruption. I assure you that under our administration we will ensure that we expand every cover of public funds towards securing the welfare of Nigerians. We will continue to demonstrate our commitment to the welfare of Nigerians by ensuring that we protect the socially excluded and the socially vulnerable. For the first time in the history of our country we are implementing a full social protection program through a youth employment scheme, NPAR, micro-credit to small businesses, conditional cash transfers to the poorest and a homegrown school feeding program. So far we have employed 200,000 graduates in our MPAR program and we are bracing up to do 300,000 more. Today we are feeding over 7 million children in 22 states and we employ 70,000 cooks. So far we have given 300,000, 362,000 micro-credit loans and our target is to give 1 million micro-credit loans especially to market women and artisans. We have also given over 300,000 of the poorest Nigerians our conditional cash transfers. Our target is to give this benefit to 1 million of the poorest. The issue of course is that every country of the size of Nigeria especially a developing country must have a social protection policy. We must have a safety net. The resources of the country must be used to protect those who either cannot work or are vulnerable or poor in ways that only those who experience it can imagine. It is our duty and we take it as a duty as a progressive government to ensure that we protect the poor and the vulnerable and this is the main objective of the programs that we have put in place. These programs have been targeted at the most vulnerable segments of our society. They are meant to ensure that we build a socially cohesive society in which the resources of the country work for all and will continue to apply public funds in such a way that no section of the country or segment of the population suffers socially in exclusion. This is the reason why we are prioritized agriculture in our economic planning. Our investment in the sector is paying off. Importation of rice has dropped to just 2 percent. Millions of farmers producing rice, sorghum, millet, tomatoes and other types of grain also are every day earning a decent decent returns on their investments. We will soon be self-sufficient in both rice and tomato paste. We will soon be self-sufficient in our food. As the president said we must grow what we eat. It is up to us to ensure that we are self-sufficient in food production and it's the duty of our government and we have considered it and we have considered it our historical task to ensure that we are able to provide food that is homegrown and that is available to all Nigerians for cheap. We have no choice but to reduce but we have no choice but to improve the business environment. Our business environment must make it possible for small and medium-scale businesses to work and to this end we are committed to ensuring the reduction of interest cases can have access to cheap bread. It is important for us to encourage young people in technology and innovation and in the entertainment industry and we intend shortly through the instrumentality of an advisory body to mainstream the incentives available to the rest of industry to these new businesses. Let me say also that as you are quite aware that insecurity has remained a big challenge for us all but we are determined to face this challenge and to secure this country more than ever before. To this end the president and the security council have been engaging in rigorous drug-taking with a view to re-engineering our security architecture to meet the challenges of the mindless killings in some parts of the country including the threats of murdering herdsmen, cattle rustlers and bandits. It is our duty to secure the rights of farmers and all citizens and to ensure that herders also can rear their cattle especially as we are proposed in well-resourced ranches. But there are also criminals who want to stop religious and ethnic crisis who want to divide the country using all manner of excuses including the recent attacks. How can anyone explain or what is the explanation for anyone going into a church to kill priests and worshipers? We recognise that while the protection of life and property is a primary responsibility of government, it is also incumbent on us as citizens to share in this responsibility. It is at the end of the day a collective responsibility. This country belongs to us all. Our country is great because of the talents of our people from every tribe, tongue and religion. Our diversity is our strength. We must reject every attempt to divide us. Our focus must be on developing our economy, providing opportunities in industry, in manufacturing, in technology for our young people. To borrow from D.K. Chukumariji, a young Nigerian poet, we must build bridges not walls. We must continue to have faith in our country. We must continue to express that faith in the way that we work for our country. I thank you for your continued patience, all workers of this nation and for the great sacrifices that you continue to make to move our nation forward. Nigerian workers are by any estimation the most patriotic segment of the population. You are among the most committed taxpayers. Your taxes are deducted at source so there is no question that you pay your taxes. Hence nobody can deny you the right to interrogate government and how public funds are expended at all times. You remain among the few organizations that have risen above primordial sentiments and have gone across tribe, ethnicity and religion to come together to unite in a common purpose. We believe that the worst is over for Nigeria. Accordingly we will do everything within our past to sustain the current economic recovery efforts. We will continue to reinforce our macroeconomic policies to achieve sustainable economic stability and growth. We will also continue to ensure that growth comes along with jobs and that there is a just distribution of the world. This administration has come this far always counting on the continued support and goodwill of organized labour. I am confident that together we will achieve our objective of building a united, strong and prosperous nation. Thank you all for your attention and may the almighty God bless us all and our great country. But before I sit down all over the world today we are celebrating labour and we are celebrating the nation state that provides the opportunity for all labour. And everywhere you go anywhere in the world today you will hear people hailing labour in their own traditional ways. So we are also going to hear labour in our own traditional way. So we are going to say three bosa for the Nigerian labour congress. One, bosa, bosa, bosa. No we are going to do it again. One, bosa, two, bosa, three, bosa. Three more bosa for the TUC. One, bosa, two, bosa, three, bosa.