The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has issued a scathing critique of global economic powers, warning that Africa remains trapped under the weight of toxic sovereign debts, exploitative trade practices, and a legacy of colonial oppression.
The call came as NLC labour joined the continent in marking the 2025 African Industrialisation Day, emphasising the urgent need for Africa to reclaim its industrial destiny.
Speaking on the occasion, the NLC highlighted that despite Africa’s rich mineral resources and historical contributions to global industrialisation, the continent continues to occupy the lowest rung of the global socio-economic order. The federation urged African nations to abandon dependency on foreign “messiahs” and take bold steps toward self-reliance, unity, and economic transformation.
In a statement, Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, NLC said:
“Africa sits at the lowest rung of the global socio-economic order. Africa continues to be the global recipient of toxic insolvent sovereign debts, manufactured goods; highly carbonised hegemonic logistics and services; punitive global trade and financial architecture, and outdated technology.
“The zero-sum attitude to Africa’s quest for industrialisation festers despite our priceless mineral resources and our unquantifiable contributions to global industrialisation through innovations, mismanaged patent rights, unpaid labour unjustly extracted using a most reprehensible slave trade ever recorded in history and the continued exploitation of our critical minerals amidst a sleuth of labour rights violations.”
He implored African countries to unite and drive industrialisation themselves, emphasizing regional trade, value addition, and respect for labour rights as key pillars for sustainable development.
“Kwame Nkrumah charged us many years ago, we cannot afford to agonise; rather we must organise! African countries must stop looking for a Messiah from elsewhere. We alone are our own Messiah. We must pull ourselves by the bootstraps and begin to chart our own destiny with guts, grit and gust. We must revamp our journey to industrialisation by loving ourselves. There is no development without self-love,” Upah noted.
The NLC also connected Africa’s industrialisation struggle to the global climate agenda, urging world leaders attending COP 30 in Belem, Brazil to prioritize the Belem Action Mechanism (BAM), which links climate action, just transitions, affordable energy, and industrial growth.
Congress stressed that respecting labour rights, protecting workers, and fostering socio-economic transformation are central to Africa’s industrial revival.
“Through good governance, accountable political leadership, and prioritisation of socio-economic transformation, we can all make the coming decade the decade of Africa’s industrialisation. Viva the Working People of the World! Viva to the Global South!! Viva to Africa!!!” Upah added .
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