Establishment of Industries panacea to sustainable job creation – IGU

The Industrial Global Union (IGU) has said that only establishment of industries and providing enabling environment would be the panacea for sustainable job creation in Nigeria and Africa in general as millions of youths join the labour market annually.

It also said that for Africa to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 especially goal 9 which deals with industry and innovation, adding that the continent must innovate and industrialise.

Addressing the press on Sunday in Abuja in preparation for the 2017 Africa Industrialization Day expected to hold on Monday today with the theme: Implications for Africa; make in Africa, create sustainable decent jobs, the Vice President of the union Comrade Issa Aremu said:

“In 2015 Africa has as many as 1.2 billion populations with millions of youths joining the labor market annually.

Only industries can provide sustainable jobs and living wages with necessary revenues for government to provide the needed infrastructure for development.

For Africa to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2030, especially goal 9 dealing with industry and innovation, our continent must innovate and industrialize.

Africa should stop being romantic and clapping for China through uncritical importation of goods and services.

Rather Africa must copy China’s industrialization drive which has within 20 years moved over 250 million people out of poverty through manufacturing and industrialization.

Africa must make what it consumes; otherwise it will be consumed by the rest of the world”.

According to Aremu, “Many African countries have robust documents and policies on industrialization and diversification, yet few existing industries are closing with mass job losses.

It’s time South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana! Zimbabwe, Sudan worked the policies and add value to the continent abundant raw materials”.

The union commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for launching the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan saying that together with the existing National Industrial Revolution Plan, it can promote revival of industries and creation of mass decent jobs.

The union leader commended Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu who recently said, “No populous nation has ever attained prosperity without first establishing a robust incapacity” adding, “Nigeria and Africa must industrialize now or remain perpetually in poverty, living on aid and credits”.

The union applauded the Vice President of Nigeria’s signing of the three unprecedented Executive Orders mandating Government agencies to spend more of their budgets on locally produced goods and services saying, “These orders would help in the recovery of many factories in Nigeria”.

Aremu who decried the Federal Government of Nigeria hiring some consultants from Malaysia to help the Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning set up three focused labs in the country said:

“The cost of hiring the Malaysian consultants will be N458 million ($1.5 million), an official said.

The Minister of Budget and Planning, Udoma Udoma, said the setting up of the labs is part of the government’s implementation strategy for the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, (ERGP).

Are we saying we cannot get Nigerians or Africans to provide these services? How can we pay huge amounts of budgets to Malaysians in implementing a document that talks of patronizing made in Nigeria”, he queried.

“There can be no industrialization without electrification, fixing of the refineries, train and retrain workers, digitalize production, eat and wear what you produced, drive cars assembled in Nigeria, attend to services rendered by indigenes and wearing of ornaments produced locally, there will be no headway”, he said.

Tom Okpe, Abuja