ADEOLA OTEMADE reports on the phenomenon whereby the population continues to grow thus leading to bigger socio-economic problems in which children are either out of school or live on the street, among other social problems.
As is the practice annually the 2021 World Population Day was celebrated on July 11 with the theme: ‘the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on fertility’. The day was observed this year “to shed more light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive behaviour globally.”
Also to mark the day, leading demographers and population experts discussed the impact of the pandemic on fertility preferences and behaviours, the availability and use of family planning, teenage marriage, challenges of data collection, among other issues related to population.
However, as usual, the outcomes of these deliberations hardly impact on developing countries like Nigeria. COVID-19 or not, the population continues to grow astronomically leading to overpopulation and large number of children not catered for.
According to the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF), about 10.5 million children between the ages of five and 14 years in Nigeria are out of school. The situation is worse in the North where attendance rate for school-age children is very low cent. In the North-East, at least 802 schools remain closed and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed.
Furthermore, in spite of national and international partnership efforts, sexual and reproductive health and reproductive behavior have not changed much in the country. Early marriages, high birth rates and a lack of access to means of family planning continue to create unsolved socio-economic problems.
Street children
Zainab Ganiu is a woman in her 60s; her five grandchildren surely belong to the army of Nigerians already living in poverty and overpopulated communities without direct parental care.
Mrs Ganiu has had to fend for her five grand-children left by her son who died five years ago. The children’s mother, not knowing what the future held for her after her husband’s death, left them with her mother-in-law, only for her to marry another man, with whom she now has two children, making seven children from her alone and with the possibility of having more.
Rokibat Ganiu, the first daughter, and her four younger brothers, stay with their grandmother at her Ayeye, Ibadan home. The future seems not bright, as 16-yer-old Rokibat has dropped out of school, just like her four brothers, as their grandmother could not pay their school fees.
Mrs Ganiu shared her dilemma with Sunday Tribune, including her struggles, since the demise of her son who was the family’s breadwinner.
“Immediately my son died, their mother left me alone with these five children; she has re-married and now sells cow skin (ponmon), although she comes here once in a while to check on her children. I do not know why she would decide to remarry and leave me with five children to cater for at this my old age,” she lamented.
For Rokibat and her brothers, there is no light at the end of the tunnel, just as the case is for Adeyemi David, Joshua Eloka, and Fawaz White aged 14, 13 and 15 respectively who are also products of unplanned families. They have all been exposed to the harsh realities of life at a tender age.
However, unlike Rokibat and her four brothers who still have their grandmother to fall back on, Adeyemi, Joshua, and Fawaz have no such succor. They live on the streets to source for their daily bread amidst a squalid and hostile environment.
Adeyemi, in an interview with Sunday Tribune narrated how the trio take to the streets every day, picking steel, iron rods and other materials to sell in order to have their daily bread. The children wouldn’t want to reveal anything further about themselves and how they survive on a daily basis.
Joshua Eloka’s father lives at Popoyemoja area of Ibadan, while his mother lives in her village in Edo State. His father has raised him as a single parent. His work-partners – Fawaz and Adeyemi- come from different parts of Ibadan to converge on Popooyemoja for their daily activity of scavenging for iron materials.
Sunday Tribune investigations would reveal that cases of neglected children and even high birthrate are often prevalent among the underprivileged section of the society. Some of the reasons given range from poverty, ill-education on the significance of planning the family to total abhorrence of the idea of family planning, among others.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune on the issue, Barakat Ibrahim, a tailor, said one of the reasons many parents are unable to cater for their children and consequently abandon them is because of poverty. According to her, government has forgotten many Nigerians living in certain overpopulated communities whose residents seem to be behind civilization in terms of infrastructure.
“Raising a child in such places can be difficult, all sort of things happen; children wander aimlessly, parents go out as early as possible, having little or no time for their children. In this part of the country (Ibadan), some women jump from one man to the other without family planning and giving birth to many children they cannot cater for. The government needs to organise programmes that will enlighten people,” she said.
For Wasiu Folahanmi, indiscretion and greed on the part of some women is the reason many children are on the street. Some women, he explained, lack self-discipline and self-control, and that is why they move from one man to the other, giving birth to children they cannot cater for.
“Some women can not stay with a man, mostly because of financial issues. Sometimes, they are not contended with what they have, and after giving birth to about five children with a man, they move on to another man and have more children. Some can even re-marry up to four times and have children with different men.
“This results in rising population in the country, and their failure to cater for these children gives rise to the number of children we have on our streets, roaming about and getting involved in all sort of vices,” Folahanmi said.
Family planning and growing population
But why has this large section of the population been unable to buy into the idea of planning their families to escape the poverty net.
According to Adeyemi Olamilekan, the stories surrounding family planning has discouraged him from recommending to his wife. He would rather accept as many children as possible that come his way as, according to him, some women had died through uncontrollable bleeding for using some family planning methods.
“I can’t allow my wife to go for family planning; I don’t mind giving birth to as many children as possible. Government cannot dictate the number of children I should have,” he said, adding that he was ready to take care of his children no matter their number.
While speaking with Sunday Tribune, AdufeTolami, a midwife and a nurse at the Lagos Island Maternity hospital, Lagos, noted that there are many factors responsible for the problems women face during child bearing, including the myths around family planning and its importance in relation to Nigeria’s growing population.
“The importance of family planning is for child spacing, to enable parents plan well for the next child’s survival; to increase the life span of the woman; to reduce poverty level as many are impoverished in the country; and reduce maternal morbidity and maternal mortality rate in the society.
“Although there are societal myths about family planning; some people believe it makes women fatter, increase their blood pressure, makes them lose weight or promiscuous. Some believe it delays them when they are eventually ready to conceive again. However, none of these is true,” she added
Dr. Omolara Ogunleye, a physician at the University College Hospital, Ibadan believes the challenges women face at child birth can be divided into three – the social challenge, economic/ financial challenge, and medical challenge.
According to her, the importance of family planning is basically to have a healthy community. More children from a family that can barely feed two, she said, will put pressure on the society.
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