We Should Invest More In Education; We Spend Too Much On Politicians- Moghalu

A former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu has disclosed that the “political priority” attached to education in Nigeria is “very low”.

Moghalu spoke during a television interview on Tuesday.

“We need to invest a lot more in the educational system — the salaries of our teachers and professors in Nigerian universities, compared to what our legislators earn in the national assembly.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but there are reports that a senator takes home anything from N20 million to N30 million every month based on various allowances, not the actual salaries,” he said.

“Sometimes, people are very clever. They don’t say ‘my salary is N10 million.’ They say ‘my salary is N1 million’, and then there are several allowances that amount to N15 million.

“So, we are investing a lot of money in the pay of politicians, but if we want to be honest, how productive are they compared to if we had invested a similar amount of money in paying university and secondary school teachers and building the facilities that we need, creating the laboratories, and so on?

“The political priority that we attach to education is very low. That is one of the reasons for the situation that we are in now”, he added.