Nigerians should place love for country over financial gain, says Akpabio on ‘japa’ trend

Senate President Godswill Akpabio says Nigerians should place their love for the country above financial gain.

Akpabio spoke on the floor of the senate on Tuesday.

The senate president said the country would be better if citizens who are skilled in various fields stayed back.

“The country is losing its expertise. If they acquired those expertise and returned to Nigeria, it would have been better,” he said while commenting on a motion seeking to address mass immigration of Nigerians.

“I also think the conditions of service are quite responsible. I believe people should place love for their country above financial gains.

“That is why many of us choose to remain here.”

Akpabio said the massive migration of Nigerians has adversely impacted the country’s health sector.

“The brain drain is a big problem, not just in the educational sector, particularly in the health sector – it is affecting us a lot.

“The greatest professionals in medicine in the USA, from what I read, some people say we have almost 22,000 health workers in there (US) who are Nigerians and they are doing extremely well.

“I have seen that from different reports.

“In the educational sector, the disadvantages are too numerous because some of the departments do not have even up to 50 per cent staff strength.

“So what then are you teaching our children? It’s like a computer, garbage in and garbage out.”

The senate president said the national assembly would continue to do its best to better the lives of teachers so that they could stay back and impact future generations.