May Day: Senate President lauds Nigerian workers for their patriotism, resilience

I greet all workers in Nigeria as they join their counterparts around the world to mark Workers’ Day on May 1st.

Throughout our history as a nation, the great Nigerian workers have been remarkable for their patriotism, commitment to nation-building and resilience in the face of serious development challenges.

They have contributed in finding solutions to the challenges and supported the efforts of government targeted at meeting the yearnings of the populace.

This consistent patriotic stance of the Nigerian workers has enhanced peace and industrial harmony and provided a conducive environment for economic growth and development in the country.

The dictum that “Labour creates wealth” remains valid today as it has ever been.

It is with this understanding that the ninth National Assembly has guarded itself against the introduction of any anti-labour legislation since its inception in 2019. We are happy that this stance has also helped in sustaining industrial peace in the country.

This being the last May Day in the tenure of the Ninth National Assembly, it is worth highlighting some of the relevant achievements of this Assembly.

By 2019 when the ninth Assembly was inaugurated, the nation’s financial year or budget cycle had become notorious for being unreliable and uncertain. To redress that situation, the Assembly in collaboration with the Executive Arm of Government, promptly reset the financial year to run from January to December. This has since then been sustained, resulting in significant improvement in budget performance.

Also, we successfully passed many critical bills that had become jinxed under the previous Assemblies, as we did to some other extant legislations that are critical to good governance and service delivery in the public sector.

Such critical Legislations include: Deep Off-shore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts (Amendment) Act, 2019; Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020; Police Act 2020, Petroleum Industry Act 2021; Electoral Act 2022 and many more.

A special mention must be made of the 16 constitutional amendment Bills, for the fifth alterations of the 1999 Constitution, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law in March this year.

Recognising that Nigeria yet has many challenges to contend with, I urge the Labour movement to continue to sustain this atmosphere of industrial peace and harmony under the new administration of President-elect Ahmed Bola Tinubu that will be inaugurated on 29th May, 2023.

On this note, I wish the great Nigerian workers a happy May Day celebration.

Signed:

Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan PhD, GCON,
President of the Senate,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Sunday, 30th April, 2023