World Population Day: AHBN tasks FG on family planning targets

The Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) has tasked the Federal government to redouble its efforts in its determination to achieve the Family Planning (FP) 2030 commitment.

Federal government had  in March 2022 formally launched the 2030 FP commitment in Abuja which has 8 focus areas states that: “By the end of 2030, Nigeria envisions a country where everyone including adolescents, young people, populations affected by crisis and other vulnerable populations are able to make informed choices, have equitable and affordable access to quality family planning and participate as equals in society’s development.”

With the fast growing rate of the global population which currently stands at eight billion and Nigeria’s population which is estimated to be over 200 million, the call for concerted action on the part of the government to achieve the FP 2030 is timely.

Nigeria’s commitment to allocate 1% of its health budget to family planning both at federal and state levels as part of efforts to achieve the FP2030 require concerted efforts and innovative financing so that family planning will be adequately catered for to all those in need of it.

Apart from the recent launch of documents by the federal government, AHBN is worried that there are no tangible efforts by the government to ensure the FP 2030 is achieved so as to put the country’s population under check.

It is even more worrisome that majority of the over 200 million people in Nigeria, 70 per cent of them are under the age of 30.

AHBN Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement (MAYE) Working Group, therefore, calls on the governments at all levels and other critical stakeholders to put modalities in place to ensure that the youth in the country are productively engaged through the provision of qualitative education and skill acquisitions so that they can contribute to the socio-economic growth of the country.

It is necessary to warn here that the youthful population can be an asset or burden to the country, depending on how the government tackles issues around them.

If not properly taken care of and given the needed attention, the youthful population can be a catastrophe leading to all manner of insecurity challenges including kidnapping, armed robbery and many other social vices.

“We are calling on the federal government to maximize its bulging youthful population by improving on the quality of and access to education.

“The issue of recurrent strike action in the education sector such as the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) should be addressed once and for all,” says MAYE Convener, Mrs Oyeyemi Pitan. “The youth should also be empowered and given the relevant skills to enable them contribute in resolving national challenges.

“We call on the government to also make family planning information, commodities and services available and accessible to all, especially those in hard to reach areas – this will curb teenage pregnancy significantly. “

“The Federal and state governments should take the issues of the provision of family planning commodities serious by ensuring its availability free of charge in all government clinics across the country.

“This can be achieved by the payment of counterpart funding and the provision of funds for logistics by all tiers of governments,” says Aminu Magashi Garba, AHBN Coordinator.

July 11, World Population Day is observed every year on July 11 to raise awareness about global population issues.

The purpose of celebrating world population day is to draw the attention of the public to the importance of population issues and the need to curb them. Family planning, poverty, sexual equality, civil rights, maternal health, and others are the topics to discuss on this occasion this year.