Pat Utomi Challenges Nigeria's Democracy, Citing Low Professor Salaries and Huge Political Spending

Pat Utomi, a professor of Political Economy, has raised doubts about the health of Nigeria's democracy, accusing the political class of spending lavishly while ordinary citizens endure severe hardship. In a video posted on X, Utomi said that 70 percent of Nigerians do not earn more than N100,000, in an economy where the cost of everything has climbed sharply. He also noted that university professors are paid less than N500,000, while politicians spend millions of naira on election campaigns. He said: "Some of us in Nigeria earn less than N100,000 a month. That takes nearly two and a half times to fill the tank of my car, and I’m asking myself, is it possible that people even need to think of it? "How much does a university professor earn in this country? Some work for government universities. They earn probably, at best, N500,000 a month. "They probably live in an area where power will take up N150,000 or N200,000 of that money. How is it possible that people are still alive and going? "Yet, I watched primary elections and saw politicians spending millions of naira. How can they have all that money when professors can’t even fill a tank with their entire month’s salary? What’s going on?" In the caption, Pat Utomi wrote: "Look at Nigerians struggling to put food on the table, then look at politicians sharing money and bread to gain support, how can anyone pretend this is a healthy democracy?"