‘Nigeria’s rapid population, sign of ineffective, failed policy’

A medical expert, Professor Uche Onwudiegwu, has said that Nigeria’s rapid population growth was a reflection of the nation’s ineffective and failed population policy since its independence.

Professor Onwudiegwu spoke at a valedictory lecture in honour of Professor Adeyemi Adekunle at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan. It was titled “Nigeria’s Rapid Population Growth and fertility: Implications for Economic Development”.

Onwudiegwu, a medical education specialist at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, stated that the policy will continue to fail due to limited political will and weak enabling environment, characterized by pervasive cultural/religious practices, gender norms, and poverty.

He stated that the high family size is the single most important driver of Nigeria’s population growth rate.

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According to him, the high family size is further driven by such factors as a low prevalence of contraceptive usage, preference for male children and cultural systems that regard the number of children born in a family as status symbol.

Onwudiegwu, an obstetrics and gynaecologist declared, “having children is not an achievement; you do not need anything to have children. This is a misplaced priority.”

The expert, noting that high fertility rate affects development in different ways, stated that overpopulation overwhelms meaningful plans.

According to him, if Nigeria continues on its current path of high fertility, Nigeria will continue to be overwhelmed by population, poor planning, poor products and poor living standard.

He added “Health indices remain poor despite many efforts at intervention. Today, the health sector cannot survive without international assistance! Nigeria has highly subsidized health care but effects are swallowed up by high population.”

The expert, who questioned if Nigeria will be able to feed itself due to its high population growth, said, “corruption is not the only problem, but also control of the population.”

He said the nation’s high fertility and population growth rates can only be curbed through family planning.

He stated, “Nigeria’s high total fertility rate and rapid population growth are influencing its economy and will continue into the future. The total fertility rate and population growth must decrease. This may happen with the creation of more effective and implementable policies geared towards family planning.

“Nigeria does not have to wait till 2050 to grasp the pitfalls of its spiralling population and the lack of commensurate infrastructure and development as much of it is already fairly obvious. Nigeria is already late. But there is still an opportunity and window to act.”

Chairman at the occasion, Emeritus Professor Oluwole Akande, said despite the number of Nigeria’s experts in Family planning, the nation’s population continues to increase.

According to Professor Akande, the population needs to be modulated such that the level of reproduction does not go below that of fertility.