Mr Akpabio said the migration of Nigerians to other countries has negatively affected many sectors, particularly the education and health sectors in the country.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has advised Nigerians to prioritise loving the country above migrating abroad to seek greener pastures.
Mr Akpabio gave the advice during the plenary on Tuesday while commenting on a motion to address the 'japa' syndrome.
He said members of the National Assembly chose to stay in the country because they prioritise love for Nigeria above any other thing.
"And as of today, the country is losing its expertise. If they acquired those expertise and returned to Nigeria, it would have been better. But I think also the conditions of service are quite responsible.
"But I believe people should place love for their country above financial gains. And that is why many of us choose to remain here. So I commend you for this," he said.
Mr Akpabio said the increasing migration of Nigerians abroad has affected the country's health and education sector in many ways.
"Even as we are speaking now, we are seeing some people who are under different guises travelling outside. So 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 United States of America, from what I read, some people say we have almost 22,000 health workers in the United States of America who are Nigerians. And they are doing extremely well. I have seen that from different reports."
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Educational effects
The senate president said that due to the 'Japa' syndrome, many higher institutions do not have up to 50 per cent staff strength, leaving the students to bear the consequences.
"As you said, it's a two-faced thing. It has its own advantages and it has its own disadvantages. But 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," he added.
Mr Akpabio assured that the National Assembly would make legislation that would improve the lives of teachers, lecturers, and students.
"So we will do our best to improve the lives of teachers, professors and university managers so that it will encourage people to save up and impact knowledge on our future generations," he stated.
