Nigeria has added 52.22 million people to its population in the
last 12 years as the country presently comprise 2.55 per cent of the global
population, according to data from worldometers, a global real time statistics
and data platform.
Experts said poor family planning
habits have ballooned the country’s population to 191.89 million, making it the
country with the 7th highest
number of people in the world.
“I specially implore all partners
working with us in Nigeria to eliminate all barriers to access in family
planning and improving quality of life of our people,” said Isaac Adewole,
Nigeria’s minister of health on his twitter message to commemorate the World
Population Day yesterday. “As the federal ministry of health we’re committed to
execution of quality family service at all levels of healthcare.”
This year’s World Population Day,
which was themed “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations”,
focused on the urgency and importance of population issues.
The surge in Nigeria’s population
is coming amidst decay in health sector infrastructure and social services,
posing grave imminent demographic menace to a country that is already grappling
with numerous socioeconomic challenges.
According to the United Nations
Population Funds statement to mark the global event, close to 214 million women
in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and
effective family planning methods either because they lack access to
information, or because they can’t get support from their partners or
communities.
“Many of those with an unmet
demand for contraceptives live in the poorest countries on earth,” the
statement said.
Sikiru Ojo a medical practitioner
based in Lagos had noted that Nigeria’s population should draw attention to the
challenges posed by an ever-increasing population.
Ojo said that rapid population
growth among the global poorest group results from poor family planning habits.
This leads to rapid consumption of natural resources, which makes it difficult
for them to feed and recover from the effects of climate change, such as
increased flooding, malnutrition, and cholera.
He therefore suggested increased
education and awareness about the benefits of family planning and dangers of
population spike.
“A lot of our patients are very
skeptical on using family planning because they do not have knowledge on how it
functions. Unless we are able to educate them in our hospitals, community then
we can improve in awareness.”
“The major problem of using family
planning to control population in this part of the world has to do with the
level of education and knowledge, high level of misconception, and wrong belief
system.” Ojo said.
According to Ojo, the educational
level of the populace is very important, Nigerian need to pick one of these
modern methods of the family planning.
Funke Fayehun a demographer in the
University of Ibadan said that the theme for this year’s world population day
event is the best way to handle Nigeria’s rapid population growth as it seeks
to encourage family planning.
“The population growth is
affecting the infrastructure, sectors and the environments, but it has been
established by study that ‘if they plan the family very well, it can curb or
control the growth of the population and we can reduce Nigeria’s population,”
Fayehun said.
“If you look at the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), family planning cost across all the goals ensuring
the health and well-being of people and their environment depend on each other.
Population size and age, fertility, mobility, poverty, equity, and resource
availability and consumption all influence the impact on the environment”
“Nigeria should focus on more
influence in advocacy of family planning, the need to enhance people’s
knowledge on the modern family planning especially in rural areas” said Fayehun
According to United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs as published on 21 June, 2017, global
population will reach to 9.80 billion by 2050.
World Population Day is observed
mainly to address 5 major issues: increase the acceptance level of family
planning, ensure gender equality, reduce poverty, ensure maternal health and
establish human rights.
Access to safe, voluntary family
planning is a human right. It is also central to gender equality and women’s
empowerment, and is a key factor in reducing poverty.
Source: Business Day
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