By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
Mr Issa Aremu, the Director-General of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), on Tuesday in Ilorin commended President Bola Tinubu on his investment drive.
Aremu, in a statement to commemorate the 2023 Africa Industrialisation Day (AID), said Tinubu has shown relentless commitment to driving investment for economic growth and decent mass employment.
“Industry has always played a vital role in development, and industry boosts economic activities along value chains, create jobs from raw materials processing to finished goods and services,” he said.
The MINILS Director-General recalled that the United Nations (UN) General Assembly had in 1989 proclaimed Nov. 20 annually as Africa Industrialisation Day (AID) via resolution 44/237.
This, he said, was within the framework of the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (1991-2000).
“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’,” Aremu said.
He observed that the Industrialisation Day assumes special importance for the MINILS which is mandated to promote labour education.
According to him, only industry guarantees formal, secured, productive and paying jobs as distinct from precarious informal sector jobs, in line with the SDG 9 which deals with industry and innovation.
Aremu therefore called on employers of labour, workers and trade unions, as well as government officials, to be informed.
”This will be through education about sustainable industrial policies for genuine constructive advocacy for national industrial development.”
Aremu went on to hail the Dangote Group, which “in spite of the perceived difficulty of doing business in Nigeria, and across Africa, has moved from wholesale trading to become a multi- sectoral manufacturing giant”.
He observed that the Group has diversified and is now a fully integrated conglomerate with an annual group turnover in excess of four billion U.S. dollars.
“The world’s largest single train Dangote Refinery Complex has the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
“Nigeria, like China, can truly take a leap from the misery of import dependence to the joy of local production, exportation and mass job-creation,” Aremu said.(NAN)
