Senate President Godswill Akpabio has urged Nigerians to place their love for the country above financial gain.
He spoke on the floor of the senate on Tuesday.
Akpabio stated that Nigeria would be better if citizens who are skilled in different fields stayed back in the country.
“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.”
The senate president also said the massive migration of Nigerians has negatively 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.”
Looking at the educational sector, the disadvantages are too many 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.”
Conclusively, Akpabio said the national assembly would continue to do its best to better the lives of teachers so that they could remain in the country and impact future generations.