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CPC Always Puts People Above Everything Else

Published

6 years ago

July 3, 2020

John Okeke

At the critical moment when China aims to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eliminate poverty, the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrated the 99th anniversary of its founding on July 1.

For a party that fights for the eternal wellbeing of the Chinese nation, the centenary only ushers in its prime of life.

With greater faith, conviction and confidence, all Party members are walking in a Long March of the new era, overcoming challenges with great courage and seizing every day to strive for great undertakings.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 is a special witnessed to the remarkable performance of the CPC. Facing the epidemic, China has waged a resolute and all-out people’s war against the virus. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Chinese people have made major strategic achievements in their response to the virus through concerted efforts and tremendous sacrifice.

Such great practice spoke volumes for the marked political advantages of the CPC’s leadership and China’s socialist system, and the Party’s lofty philosophy of serving the people at all costs. It also showed the political character of the communists who stay true to the Party’s founding mission and have the courage to shoulder responsibilities. Besides, it demonstrated the monumental force unleashed when the Party and all Chinese people were united, and revealed that the CPC, a large party, has always been vital during its near century-long journey.

Facing the storms in the course of China’s revolution, construction and reform, the CPC remains unchanged in its original aspiration and mission to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.

Rather than seeking political interests of its own, the Party always gives top priority to the interests of the people. This is what distinguishes the CPC, a Marxist political party, from other political parties.

Since its founding, the CPC, relying closely on the Chinese people, has surmounted numerous obstacles and accomplished monumental achievements that have gone down in the history of the Chinese nation. It has helped China realize a tremendous transformation: the country has stood up, grown rich and is becoming stronger.

The CPC has braved thorny paths over the past 99 years and completed an extraordinary journey with unremitting endeavors. It is the people that have given life and prosperity to the Party, and the people are the Party’s foundation, lifeblood and strength, enabling it to move forward against all risks and challenges, from one victory to another.

“Only by remaining true to our original aspiration, keeping our mission firmly in mind, and keeping on striving, could the Party stay young and live,” said Xi, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

Some moments are always vital for the development of history. For China, the year 2020 is characterized by standing at the conjunction point of the two centenary goals. Having withstood the test of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese people are making the final push for attaining the first centenary goal – the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, an aspiration of the Chinese nation throughout centuries. This will be a milestone in the process of realizing national rejuvenation.

Based on this achievement, China will also embark on a new journey toward the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious.

Both domestic and international development environments are facing more complicated and severe challenges, which calls on the world to foster new opportunities in crises and create new prospects amid changes.

Only by continuing to follow a philosophy of people-centered development, putting the people above everything else, relying closely on them, and delivering benefits to them can the Party surmount all the obstacles and usher in a bright future.

“To secure a better life for the people is what we aim to achieve in everything we do,” Xi said. Efforts must be made by the CPC to normalize epidemic prevention and control and ensure people’s health and safety, crack the “hardest nut” of extreme poverty to sustain high-quality poverty alleviation and promote economic and social development to meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.

All Party members need to have a clear understanding of major policies and strategies of the country and the Party, and regard the benefit of the people as their greatest political achievement. They should firmly implement the tasks of keeping employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign and domestic investments, and expectations stable and ensuring security in job, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy security, stable industrial and supply chains, and the normal functioning of primary-level governments and guarantee that the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and arrangements will be firmly put into practice.

Meanwhile, the Party members should keep in mind both the domestic and international situations, have a stronger sense of responsibility, respond to the people’s needs, worries and difficulties, always remain true to their aspiration, and work in concert with the people, so as to ensure that the 1.4 billion Chinese people can live a prosperous life.

Socialism and happiness are achieved through concrete action and hard work. The Party has led the people in accomplishing missions that seemed impossible and creating miracle upon miracle through painstaking efforts.

To achieve poverty elimination, build a well-off society and create a brighter future calls for the hard work of the people. Despite the difficulties and obstacles the CPC may face on the road ahead and in the process of development, it must remain committed to upholding the principal position of the people in the country and showing respect for the creativity of the people. Besides, the Party should unite and lead the people to work harder and forge ahead, and rely on them to create new and even greater miracles.

Halfway to achieving its two centenary goals, China must race against time and keep up with the time.

Rallying more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, the Party members need to enhance their consciousness of maintaining political integrity, thinking in big-picture terms, following the leadership core, and keeping in alignment with the central Party leadership, have confidence in the socialist path, theory, system and culture, and resolutely uphold Xi Jinping’s core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the whole Party and uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership.

Remaining committed to putting the people front and center, they should also seize the time, and strive to write a more brilliant chapter in the Long March of the new era and make outstanding achievements that can win the recognition of the people and stand up to the test of history.

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Business

Turning Africa’s Raw Materials Into Wealth: The ARMS 2026 Industrial Agenda

Published

3 days ago

September 29, 2026

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

For decades, Africa’s vast natural resources have powered industries and economies far beyond the continent, while many African countries have remained largely exporters of unprocessed commodities and importers of finished products.

That familiar pattern is now coming under renewed scrutiny as policymakers, researchers, investors and industrialists seek to change the direction of Africa’s resource economy.

At the centre of that conversation is the second edition of the Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026), scheduled for October 19 and 20 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, under the theme: “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”

Organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the summit is being positioned as more than another gathering of policymakers and industry stakeholders. It is intended to provide a platform for confronting the structural challenges that have kept African raw materials largely disconnected from local manufacturing.

Africa has for years operated largely within a “pit-to-port” economic model, exporting raw materials while importing expensive finished products.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit on Tuesday in Abuja, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, said the event would bring together policymakers, investors, researchers, technology providers and industrialists to develop practical strategies for transforming Africa’s abundant natural resources into industrial wealth.

The challenge, therefore, is not simply the abundance of resources, but the continent’s ability to transform those resources into industrial value, employment, technology and wealth within Africa.

Nigeria alone, according to the RMRDC, has more than $582.4 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources, while the wider continent possesses substantial deposits of critical minerals, agricultural raw materials and industrial feedstock.

Yet, the benefits of this resource endowment have often been constrained by inadequate processing capacity, weak infrastructure, limited technology, financing gaps and fragmented regional value chains.

From Dialogue to Industrial Action

ARMS 2026 builds on the maiden edition held in May 2025, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from across the world.

The inaugural summit also witnessed the unveiling of the Ten-Year Raw Materials Transformation Roadmap (2025–2034) by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owen Enoh.

The roadmap was designed around areas including technological capability, climate-resilient processing and backward integration, establishing a policy framework for greater domestic utilisation of Africa’s raw materials.

The second edition is expected to move the conversation further by bringing policy, capital, technology and industrial stakeholders around practical mechanisms for turning raw materials into locally manufactured products.

One of the major proposals highlighted by the RMRDC is the 30 per cent Mandatory Value Addition Bill, which seeks to establish a statutory minimum level of value addition to Nigerian raw materials before export.

The Council says the proposed framework could support job creation, import substitution, foreign-exchange conservation and increased manufacturing contribution to the economy.

Building the Infrastructure for Value Addition

The industrial transformation envisaged by ARMS 2026 goes beyond legislation.

A major concern is the “missing middle” between where raw materials are produced and where factories are located.

Poor transportation networks, inadequate cold-chain facilities, weak rural roads, limited testing and certification infrastructure and border-related delays can make locally sourced materials more expensive and less competitive.

Consequently, logistics and infrastructure constitute one of the five principal pillars of the summit.

The objective is to develop more reliable corridors connecting farms and mines with processing centres and manufacturing facilities, thereby reducing losses and improving the movement of industrial inputs.

The Digital Dimension

Technology is also becoming an important part of the Council’s strategy.

The RMRDC says it has developed the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP), described as a digital repository containing information on feedstock deposits, specifications, production outputs and industrial absorption rates.

The Council has also highlighted its transition towards paperless operations and its certification as a Data Controller/Processor of Major Importance by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Such digital infrastructure could provide investors and manufacturers with better information about the availability and characteristics of raw materials while supporting more informed industrial planning.

Turning Waste Into Industrial Inputs

Another major component of ARMS 2026 is the proposed expansion of the circular economy.

The summit will examine how agricultural by-products, mine tailings, scrap metals and biomass can be recovered and reused as inputs for new production processes rather than being treated simply as waste.

The RMRDC argues that such an approach could lower raw-material costs while supporting more sustainable and climate-resilient manufacturing systems.

For Africa, where industrial expansion must increasingly balance economic development with environmental considerations, waste industrialisation could become an important part of the continent’s manufacturing conversation.

From National Production to African Value Chains

The African Continental Free Trade Area is another important element of the summit’s agenda.

The RMRDC sees AfCFTA as an opportunity to create regional value chains in which raw materials sourced in one African country can be processed and supplied to manufacturers in another.

Under such a model, Africa would move beyond simply exporting commodities to external markets and develop stronger internal networks for supplying chemicals, refined minerals, agricultural inputs and other industrial materials across national borders.

This approach places regional integration at the heart of Africa’s industrialisation strategy.

Bridging Research and Capital

A recurring weakness in many developing economies is the gap between research and commercialisation.

Innovations may emerge from universities, research institutions and laboratories without receiving the financing, equipment or market connections required to become commercially viable.

ARMS 2026 intends to address that gap through technology commercialisation and capital linkages, connecting research outputs with investors, development finance institutions and industrial off-takers.

The RMRDC has also cited partnerships with the Bank of Industry for commercial-scale post-harvest processing and a South-South technology-transfer partnership with the National Innovation Centre par Excellence in Shanghai, China.

A Larger Industrial Conversation

The scale of ARMS 2026 is expected to be significantly larger than the maiden edition.

The organisers project more than 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and global industrial partners.

The programme will feature high-level policy dialogues, technical panels, an advanced raw materials and technology exhibition, industrial site visits and the African Raw Materials Industry Awards.

The exhibition, in particular, is expected to showcase locally fabricated processing machinery, advanced domestic materials, green chemicals and engineered commercial inputs.

Beyond the speeches and exhibitions, however, the real significance of ARMS 2026 will ultimately depend on what happens after the summit.

Africa’s challenge has never been a shortage of raw materials. The more difficult question has been how to transform those resources into factories, products, skilled employment, technology and sustainable economic opportunities.

For Nigeria and the rest of the continent, the proposed shift from “pit-to-port” to “feedstock-to-factory” therefore represents a broader debate about the future structure of African economies.

ARMS 2026 seeks to place that debate firmly on the industrial agenda — with value addition, technology, finance, infrastructure, circular production and regional trade at the centre.

If the commitments and partnerships generated by the summit translate into measurable industrial activity, the event could provide another platform for Africa to examine how its enormous resource base can support stronger domestic manufacturing.

The message from the organisers is clear: the continent’s raw materials should not only leave African soil as commodities; they should increasingly become the foundation for African industrial production

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