Politics

Professors earn less than N500,000 yet politicians spend millions on primaries – Pat Utomi raises questions about Nigeria's democracy

By Linda Ikeji 7 October 2026, 8:56 am 0 comments

Pat Utomi, a professor of Political Economy, has raised questions about Nigeria's democracy as he accuses the political class of excessive spending amid extreme hardship in the country.

Speaking in a video posted on X, Utomi lamented that 70% of Nigerians do not earn more than N100,000 in an economy where the prices of everything had increased significantly.

He also pointed out that professors earn less than N500,000, while politicians spend millions of naira on election campaign.

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?”