
Brain drain, otherwise known as capital flight, is the large scale of movement of top manpower from developing nations to more developed countries.
At the plenary in the red chamber, the Senators resolved to find a solution to the increasing spate of brain drain, especially in the universities and some other critical sectors.
This resolution followed a motion sponsored by Senator Ani Anthony Okorie (APC/Ebonyi South), titled, “Urgent Need to address the challenges of increasing cases of Brain Drain in the Nigerian University System”.
In his submission, Senator Anthony Okorie, said reports by the National Universities Commission (NUC) has it that many Nigerian Universities operate with less than 50 percent of the required academic staff due to brain drain.
He stated that poor condition of service for university lecturers is a major instigator of brain drain, saying the remunerations of the Nigerian university lecturers are among the poorest in the world, as it cannot meet the current economic realities in the country.
According to him, many universities in other Western African Countries have better working conditions than Nigeria’s university system.
“Brain drain has assumed an unprecedented posture in recent time, due to the current economic situation of the country.
“This should be a cause for concern, as it threatens the survival of the country’s higher education, particularly in the engineering, medicine and sciences, which are critical for the socio-economic development of this country”, he said .
The motion received majority support as the lawmakers noted that the problem is not limited to the universities, but some other critical sectors like the health where doctors and nurses are migrating abroad.
Consequently, the Senate called for increase in yearly budgetary allocations to tackle infrastructural decay and enhance monthly enumerations of lecturers .
It also mandated its relevant committees to relate with the ministries of Finance , Education, Health and other relevant agencies to work out modalities for checking Increasing spate of brain drain.