Welfare: People want to serve Nigeria but they also have to eat, says Sanusi

The former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, has urged presidential candidates to prioritise health and education sectors to enhance productivity.

Sanusi, a former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), made the call at an event organised by the board and management of Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi Foundation (MAMF) in collaboration with St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos, on Wednesday.

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While delivering opening remarks at the programme with theme, ‘Nigerian Healthcare System: The Past, Present and the Future’, Sanusi said Nigerian politicians, especially presidential candidates, must have a clear plan and utmost respect for the two sectors as they had failed abysmally.

He said doctors and teachers have not been treated well, hence, the brain drain experienced in the sectors.

“Education and health are the foundation of the economy, if we don’t prioritize these sectors, then we are finished. The rate of brain drain is high because prepared budgets in the health and education sectors have been embezzled and mismanaged.

“You can’t treat your teachers and doctors as if they are nothing. That is the reason they are leaving the country in droves. We must reverse brain drain by respecting the demands of teachers and health practitioners.

“As a people and most especially as governments, we have lost our respect for the professions that should be respected. Teachers and doctors are not looking for money but the amount of money we invest in training our children in becoming doctors and teachers can never be earned in salaries in this country but people deserve a decent life and also respect.

“People want to serve but they also want to eat. They are humans who have basic responsibility, they want to educate their children. We have created an economy where everybody on a narrow salary is being impoverished.”

Sanusi said with high inflation in the country where the average doubles every hour, salaries of doctors and teachers were not increased to accommodate the inflation leading to lack of motivation to serve the nations.