Stay and build Nigeria, Mutfwang urges graduates

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has urged Nigerian graduates to resist the temptation to completely abandon the country in search of better opportunities abroad, encouraging those who migrate to remain connected to Nigeria through investments, knowledge transfer, mentorship and other contributions to national development.

He said Nigeria needed the skills, knowledge and expertise of its educated citizens to address its development challenges, warning that the country could not build the future it desired if its most capable people withdrew from nation-building.

Mutfwang stated this on Friday while delivering the convocation lecture titled, ‘Building the Nigeria We Want: The Role of the Educated Mind’, at the 15th Convocation Ceremony of Veritas University, Abuja.

Acknowledging the increasing migration of young Nigerians in search of better opportunities, the governor appealed to the graduating students to consider contributing to the country’s development, whether they chose to remain at home or pursue careers abroad.

He said, “Stay and build, I urge you. And if you must go, remain connected by contribution. The nations you admire were not built by their finest people departing.

“If your path leads you abroad, let your success lead from work, in knowledge, in investment, in mentorship, and a stubborn refusal to write off your country, this country, our Nigeria.”

The governor argued that Nigeria’s development depended not only on the availability of natural resources and government policies but also on the willingness of educated citizens to deploy their knowledge and abilities towards solving national problems.

He maintained that university education should not be regarded merely as a means of securing personal advancement, employment or opportunities abroad, but as an investment that creates an obligation to contribute to society.

“Your education has placed you in debt to society. Whether or not you feel it, someone taught you who was once taught. Institutions were built for you by hands that are now frail and still. A society made room for you to grow. A gift creates an obligation to give,” he said.

Mutfwang also challenged graduates to reject the notion that academic qualifications automatically translated into good character, insisting that education without integrity and a sense of responsibility could undermine national development.

He expressed concern that some of Nigeria’s most damaging governance failures, including grand corruption, the manipulation of public institutions and abuse of public office, were perpetrated by individuals with considerable education and professional expertise.

According to him, the country was not necessarily suffering from a shortage of intelligent and qualified people but from the failure to apply their knowledge in the interest of the common good.

He said, “Indeed, I make an uncomfortable observation: the afflictions I diagnosed earlier, prebendalism, the privatisation of public office, grand corruption, the capture of institutions, are almost never the work of illiterate minds. They are overwhelmingly executed by educated minds.

“The contract, the doctored account, the laundered fund, the ingenious evasion of law. All these are the signatures of trained minds. This is the paradox we must confront. The educated mind is at once our greatest hope, and when corrupted, it becomes our most sophisticated danger.”

The governor cited internet fraudsters as another example of intellectual ability being deployed for destructive purposes, arguing that knowledge must be guided by moral discipline.

“The Yahoo boy is certainly not a derelict. He is a work of intelligence, but intelligence wrongly applied,” he said.

He consequently urged the graduates to uphold integrity, responsibility and competence, noting that Nigeria needed citizens who could translate good intentions into practical achievements.

“Knowledge tells you what you can do, but conscience tells you what you should do. An educated mind without a formed conscience is not an asset to any nation. It is a very efficient danger,” he said.

Mutfwang added that the country needed people capable of combining the willingness to serve with the skills required to deliver results.

“Our nation is not short of people who mean well. It is short of people who can do well, who marry the will to the skill,” he said.

The governor’s appeal comes amid concerns over the continued migration of Nigerian professionals and young people seeking better economic opportunities, improved working conditions and more stable public services abroad.

The trend, commonly described as brain drain, has particularly attracted attention in critical sectors such as healthcare, where the departure of trained professionals raises concerns about the capacity of the domestic workforce to meet growing demand.

Nigeria’s National Policy on Health Workforce Migration, approved in 2024, seeks to address the challenges associated with the international movement of health workers through improved workforce planning, retention measures, bilateral agreements and protection of the country’s health system.

The policy recognises that migration is influenced by factors including remuneration, working conditions, career development, insecurity and the availability of essential infrastructure.

In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of Veritas University, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Ichoku, said the government must address the conditions driving young Nigerians abroad if the country hoped to retain its human capital.

Ichoku identified insecurity, poverty, inadequate infrastructure, poor roads and unreliable electricity supply as some of the major challenges discouraging young Nigerians from pursuing their ambitions in the country.

He argued that young people naturally gravitated towards environments where they believed they could achieve their aspirations, adding that Nigeria’s ability to retain its youthful population depended largely on creating opportunities for them to thrive.