AS THE world observes 2023 Africa Industrialisation Day (AID), President Bola Tinubu has been commended for his relentless commitment to drive investment for economic growth and decent mass employment.
In a statement in Ilorin commemorating the day, Comrade Issa Aremu, the Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) on Monday observed that industry has always played a vital role in development, adding that industry boosts economic activity along value chains, create jobs from raw materials processing to finished goods and services.
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1989 within the framework of the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (1991-2000) proclaimed 20th November annually as Africa Industrialisation Day (AID) via resolution 44/237.
The Day is intended to mobilise the commitment of the local international community to the diversification and industrialisation of African economies. The theme for this year’s AID is “Accelerating Africa’s Industrialisation Through the Empowerment of African Women in Processing for an Integrated Market.”
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Comrade Aremu observed that Industrialisation Day assumes special importance for MINILS which he said is mandated to promote labour education, because “only industry guarantees formal, secured, productive and paying jobs as distinct from precarious informal sector jobs” in line with SDG 9 dealing with Industry and Innovation.
Aremu therefore called on employers of labour, workers and trade unions as well as government officials to be informed through education about sustainable industrial policies for genuine constructive advocacy for national industrial development.
Comrade Aremu hailed Dangote Group, which he said despite the perceived difficulty of doing business in Nigeria, and across Africa, has moved from wholesale trading to become a multi-sectoral manufacturing giant, diversified and fully integrated conglomerate with an annual group turnover in excess of US$4 billion.
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“The much-awaited inaugurated world’s largest single train Dangote Refinery Complex that has the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, shows that Nigeria like China can truly take a leap from misery of import dependence to joy of local production, exportation and mass job creation,” Aremu said.
