Mr. Auwal Musa Rasfanjani the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre /Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria), urged Nigerians to begin to embrace the idea of birth control to avoid ravaging poverty, youth unemployment, child mortality and other socio-economic upheavals.
He stated this at the Nigeria Population Conversation Seminar they organised in Abuja that it was necessitated by the need to engender people-oriented participation and harvest perception on population to shape policy direction for well-informed national planning to achieve the overall demographic advantage for sustainable development.
In his welcome address at the event, Rasfanjani explained that it is indeed excited to bring under one roof, well-meaning Nigerians with critical minds and greater curiosity entrenched in a burning desire to catalyze sustainable development and growth of our beloved country, Nigeria as well as that of our continent, Africa.
That it is the same burning desire for sustainable growth brought to the fore, this foremost groundbreaking gathering-themed Nigeria Population Conversation Seminar by Population Matters UK and CISLAC/TI-Nigeria. We are delighted to take the lead in this process. That while population affects every facet of societal development, discussion around population remains uncommon in Nigeria; and this puts Nigeria's population which is projected to reach 400 million by 2050, doubling the current estimate, at a demographic nightmare.
'We cannot conceal the fact that with the current inadequate awareness on consequences of population at citizenry and policy levels as well as the unattended impact on national planning, Nigeria has not efficiently harnessed its population to achieve development goals' he said
This fact has been buttressed by multiplier effects of youth unemployment, insecurity, inaccessible healthcare services, food insecurity, education inequality and other challenges that undermine socio-economic development of Nigeria.
Regrettably, Nigeria is among the top five countries in the world with the highest under-five mortality rates. In addition to the general leading causes of under-five mortality, studies have highlighted the survival probabilities, the impact of socio-economic, demographic and environmental factors as major threats to the survival of under-five mortality in Nigeria.
While a significant function of girl child education in Nigeria is to provide her with diverse basic knowledge, skills, and training which contribute to personal development and the overall national development, more than 50% of girls are not attending school at the basic education level, while 1 million girls drop out between the first and last year of primary school (UNICEF). In addition, Nigeria accounts for 20% of all out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly 20 million out-of-school children (Malala Fund).
Likewise, in Nigeria, about 53.40% of youths are unemployed according to youth unemployment rates released by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2022. This again exposes our country to most of the social crimes perpetuated by youths including the accelerated level of prostitution, armed robbery, rape and all facets of violence can be largely attributed to the incidence of unemployment of youths.
Given, this background, which Nigerians cannot deny the fact that the time has come for Nigerians to begin to embrace the idea of smaller family to boycott ravaging poverty, youth unemployment, child mortality and other socio-economic upheavals.
As a result, the Nigeria Population Conversation project is necessitated by the need to engender people-oriented participation and harvest perception on population to shape policy direction for well-informed national planning to achieve the overall demographic advantage for sustainable development.
More importantly, wide gap has been observed in population literacy at individual levels; and this poses further challenges to demographic accountability, as the main stakeholders in Nigeria Population Conversation.
He believes that it is worthy of a note that active participation by Nigerians across the six geo-political zones in the Population Perception Survey report that will be launched here today is a clear indication of citizens’ readiness for constructive conversation on population and its impacts on their well-being as well as living standards. This without doubt will serve as a baseline for further conversation on population at all levels in Nigeria and beyond.
'We are hopeful that fact-findings from the report would be leveraged by relevant state and non-state actors in amplifying conversation on population, while shaping policy decision and direction towards inclusive planning and development in Nigeria' he said.
We sincerely hope that immediate formation of Nigeria Population Matters Network will be put into a consideration as a major outcome of the Conversation today, to further amplify awareness and cascade recommendations across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.
He reminded the audience that it is in light of this that by Population Matters UK and CISLAC/TI-Nigeria are championing this critical Seminar bringing together highly valuable resources to reflect on the areas of challenges and next steps in our development journey.
He then appreciated the Population Matters UK for this unique opportunity to open up inclusive conversations on population in Nigeria.
