The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has lamented that, as a result of poor industrialisation, only 17.4 percent of Africans can boast of security cover.
The President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba who stated this in his statement to commemorate the Africa’s Industrialization Day, said poor industrialization has a lot of negative impacts on the people.
The statement personally signed by the Congress President, noted that industrialization is at the heart of productivity, growth, jobs, and social inclusion.
It however stated that, poor industrialization results in low productivity, stunted economic growth, fewer jobs, and social chaos.
According to the statement, “it is important to pay serious attention to the matter of industrialization, productivity, economic growth, job creation and social development in Africa”.
It noted that: “The theme of this year’s Africa Industrialization Day – Industrializing Africa: Renewed commitment towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization and Economic Diversification – could not have come at a better time.
“The is given the dislocation occasioned by the incidence of the COVID-19 plague. The pandemic has revealed the acute deficits of social protection cover as only 17.4% of Africans can boast of security cover”.
The statement maintained that the challenge was symptomatic of poor industrialization and the consequent dearth of decent jobs in Africa.
” We should use the occasion of the commemoration of the 2021 Africa’s Industrialization Day to re-write the narrative of under-development in our continent which is perpetuated by acute de-industrialization. This is the time to change the begging bowl stereotype of the African continent by re-industrializing our cities, towns and villages”, the statement stated..
The statement pointed out that having missed the first, second and third industrial revolutions, African cannot afford to be left out of the fourth revolution.
“We must diligently implement the core provisions of the foregoing Development Plans with a focus on Industry 4.0 – a sub-set of the fourth industrial revolution that includes cyber-physical systems, the internet of things, the industrial internet of things, cloud computing, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence.
“There are a number of catch up before we can hop on the train of the fourth industrial revolution. We must prioritize our social sector. We must improve social services. We must increase budgetary allocation to education, health and social welfare services and with an eye on value for money.
“We must improve physical infrastructure. We must build roads, railways and inland waterways to connect our sub regions. We must resolve the chaos in our aviation sector. We must enhance the value additions to our primary modes of our economy.
“We must restore the culture of mutual respect, maintain the peace, foster stability and end the wars and violence on the mother continent. Now is the time to industrialize Africa”,.
