Lagos — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has called on Nigerians to do away with past negative practices and work positively towards building a better future for the country.

The President's call came just as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) urged him not to allow his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and elements of former President Olusegun Obasanjo's model of politics within his government to sabotage the mandate the people of Edo State gave to Adams Oshiomhole.

Speaking at the Workers' Day celebration at the Eagle Square, Abuja yesterday, the President, represented by the Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Mohammed Lawal, admonished organised labour to support his administration's seven-point economic agenda.

He said the workers should partner government in its ongoing efforts to create a new Nigeria anchored on social justice, due process and rule of law.

President of the NLC, Abdulwahab Omar, particularly called on Yar'Adua to prevail on the PDP not to be tempted to sabotage the people's mandate.

Speaking on a theme: "Making Nigeria Work for its People," Omar said an examination of the nation shows that it does not work for its people.

He said: "The government does not deliver those things that make life meaningful. If anything, our successive governments, military and civilian have left us worse than they met us.

"The case of Edo State will be the first real test of President Yar'Adua's willingness and capacity to accommodate opposition. Ordinarily, with the favourable ruling by the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, there should be no cause for alarm.

"However, we know that the do-or-die elements and their political children are very much around. This is evident in the fake rallies and fake clamour against the ruling of the tribunal being orchestrated by the outgoing governor of Edo State. We must say loud and clear that it will be dangerous for anybody to play pranks with the people's mandate in Edo State."

According to Omar, "As we said in the past, the seven-point agenda of this administration has by and large identified key development priorities that need to be pursued.

"However, we are not seeing concrete steps to deliver on these priorities. As such, the real sectors of the economy continue to under-perform because of poor infrastructures and unfavourable marcro-economic policies".

He said although most broad macroeconomic indices continued to show positive developments, the labour markets consistently displayed fundamental weakness.

"What we see daily is high levels of unemployment and retrenchment across all sectors," he added.

Omar stated that Nigeria was still grappling with years of the gross mismanagement of the country's resources, especially in the last few years.

"From what we have seen from the probes of the power sector and other revelations of high-level corruption, Nigeria works only for a few people in government and their daughters, sons, wives, husbands and associates.

"We cannot explain how Nigeria has failed without mentioning the serious stealing that goes on at all levels of government in the past and in the present. We are at a stage where majority of our people are hungry after 48 years of independence. We are faced with the most serious food crisis since the Civil War. Unemployment has become a national crisis and there is no household without jobless people, including graduates of various disciplines."

The NLC president stressed that the country has not fared better in other sectors of the economy especially in the social sectors as well as manufacturing or the real sector.

Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, in his May Day message, announced an increment in the salaries of workers in the state, noting that what he met on the ground was N4,800 as basic salary for workers, adding that his government has now increased the basic pay to N7000.

In Taraba State, the Governor, Danbaba Suntai, who was represented by the state Head of Service Hajiaya Aishatu Mohammed, said the state government would continue to provide dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

The Lagos State Commis-sioner for Establishments and Training, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the May Day rally yesterday assured Nigerian workers of government's continuous support, saying that the manner in which the leaderships of NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had been going about the welfare of workers Sanwo-Olu said though strike is worker's inalienable right to express their feelings against policies not in their interests, but urged them to always exercise restraints in exercising this rights.

Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, in his Workers Day address, said the state government placed a high premium on education and was "doing everything to resolve amicably the current impasse with lecturers and other workers at the Cross River University of Technology CRUTECH" and called on the workers to embrace dialogue.

He reiterated the commitment of his administration to good governance, due process, the rule of law, and improving the well being of every citizen of the state.

Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, told the state workers, who are agitating for increased pay that the only way for him to pay the increment was to give some workers the boot as there were a lot of fraud in the state civil service which continues to make the government to lose so much.

Sheriff who pleaded for the workers' patience, disclosing that an American company had been commissioned to install bio-metric machine which is aimed at checking fraud in the system.

Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, has promised to implement the 15 per cent wage increase to all workers in the state with effect from 1st July, 2008.

Osunbor who addressed workers at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium venue of the May Day celebration disclosed that his government would continue to accord workers in the state their welfare adequate attention in the ongoing measures to reposition the state especially in the area of creating a dedicated, innovative, productive and competent workforce.

In his May Day speech, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, who donated six vehicles to NLC and its affiliate unions during the May Day celebration, which include KIA saloon for the state chairman of NLC and five buses for the affiliate unions worth 10 million naira, enjoined the labour unions to participate in the mass production of food crops intended by his administration.

He said this year the state government had engaged 179 different grades of extension workers of KNARDA, while the 44 local governments had engaged over 3000, while 15,000 workers were engaged on educational and health sector to face the current challenges.

In Kaduna State, the Deputy Governor, Mr. Patrick Yakowa, who stood in for Governor Namad Sambo, at the May Day rally, advised the workers to work toward the full development of the state.