Nigeria not out of recession – Labour laments

The umbrella body for senior civil servants in the country has declared that there were no signs that Nigeria is out of recession.
The labour union, under the aegis of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, at its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Enugu, insisted that despite the claim that Nigeria had exited economic recession, the reverse seemed to be the case.

Addressing members and other guests, President-General of the Association, Bobboi Kaigama, represented by the Vice-President of ASCSN, Bola-Audu Innocent noted that nothing appeared to be moving in the right direction as all sectors of the economy were bleeding profusely.
He said, “The country is witnessing a deteriorating standard of living, lack of public goods and services, high level of corruption and rent seeking.
“As things stand today, many people cannot eat let alone being in a position to afford ordinary things that make life comfortable and worthy of living. Little wonder, Nigeria that had once been ranked as one of the happiest nations in the world now occupies the near bottom position in terms of Happiness Index. The deterioration is best exemplified by the surge in vices now recorded in the land.
“Many Nigerians, especially the youth want to get out of the country at all cost in search of the proverbial “greener pastures.” In the process, many have lost their lives in the high sea in an attempt to cross to Europe. Recently, 23 dead bodies of Nigerian women were found in a refrigerated section of a Spanish warship.

“They were on a rubber boat along with some other migrants trying to escape from the hardship that we are forced to live with here in Nigeria. We now live in a country where everybody is for himself and God for all. Life is no doubt getting tougher by the day.
“In view of this sorry state of affairs, we urge all our respective governments to rise up to the occasion by taking urgent steps to ameliorate the sufferings being experienced by the masses of this great country of ours and put smiles on the faces of Nigerians once again. Anything to the contrary will continue to push the country to the precipice with very dire consequences.”