The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has said that the country is going through a hopeless situation occasioned by massacres, inflation and industrial action by university lecturers across the country.
The bishops described the situation as a “horrible state of affairs.” CBCN President, Most Revd Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, made the assertions in his 2022 Easter message to the nation, released yesterday, through the National Directorate of Social Communications, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja.
He said, “As a nation, we are celebrating Easter this year in a rather dismal atmosphere that breathes pessimism and despair. The growing insecurity of life and property in the country is compounded by the rising wave of mindless massacres of innocent citizens by unscrupulous terrorists, causing bereavement, trauma and uncertainty.
“Economic hardship with soaring inflation continues to sweep across the nation like wildfire and seems to reduce millions of our countrymen and women to a life of wanton suffering and distress.
“The ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is thwarting the academic ambitions of many Nigerian students. In some parts of the country, workers are owed arrears of salaries, while retired senior citizens eke out an existence without regular pensions.
“Many young people are deeply wounded and degraded by unemployment and poverty, a poverty that breeds crimes and seeks relief in hard drugs.
“The appalling economic condition is worsened by the present scarcity of fuel, which is as puzzling as it is frustrating. This horrible state of affairs is driving many compatriots to a feeling of cynicism as they gaze at a gloomy future that seems to promise them little or nothing.”
The CBCN also said the 2023 general elections should
