Africans should re-examine relations with China -Labour unions

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Trade Union Congress, Ghana (TUC-Ghana) met last week in Abuja where they brainstormed on issues affecting the people of Africa.A communiqué jointly signed by 1st Deputy President of COSATU Tyotyo James, President of NLC Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar and Secretary General TUC […]

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Trade Union Congress, Ghana (TUC-Ghana) met last week in Abuja where they brainstormed on issues affecting the people of Africa.
A communiqué jointly signed by 1st Deputy President of COSATU Tyotyo James, President of NLC Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar and Secretary General TUC (Ghana) Kofi Asamoawa also urged governments to create a roadmap for the reindustrialisation of the continent. “Africa should re-examine its relationship with China as China is not interested in Africa’s industrialisation but only in its raw material to drive China’s industrialisation,” said the communiqué.
It added that “that industrialisation is an agenda that the people of Africa must pursue and that Africa must develop in order not to remain a market for goods and services from industrialised nations.”
The unions pledged solidarity with the people of Cuba, Palestine, Western Sahara and “other oppressed people of the world.”
 The communiqué added that women and youth structures must be accommodated in the unions’ constitutions and there must be deliberate policies to address their issues.