The federal government recently responded to the nation’s booming population growth by mooting a familiar proposal – promulgating a policy which will limit each mother to two children. In this piece,
SAMSON BENJAMIN takes a cursory look at the policy.
The Minister of Finance, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, at the recent 24th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, disclosed that the plan, as part of strategies to ensure the success of the President Muhammadu Buhari government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) “will align our population growth rate to economic growth and eventually exit Nigeria from its current poverty trap.”
She also noted that the move was in realisation of the dangers posed by uncontrolled population growth. She said government was consulting religious and traditional leaders nationwide on the issue after which a policy would be formulated.
She said: “For the past four weeks or so, we have been talking to investors and we are sending out a message that the president has asked some of us to just keep our eyes on delivering on the ERGP and the set goals. “The president has directed that we should not allow ourselves to be distracted by the elections. So, there are few of us that are simply working towards 2020 which is the life of the ERGP, and also very soon, we are going to start developing.
“The country would harness the potential of its large and energetic youth population as well as their entrepreneurial zeal.”
Nigeria’s population as a time-bomb
According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s current population growth is about 3 per cent, while the slowly recovering economy is growing at 1.9 per cent GDP. Coupled with heavy borrowings, indebtedness and other variables, this was partly responsible for the country’s new status as “the poverty capital of the world.”
Similarly, the National Population Commission (NPC), through its Chairman, Mr. Eze Duruiheoma, earlier this year released the country’s current population estimate which was put at 198 million people with urban population growing at an average annual growth rate of about 6.5 per cent. Duruiheoma noted that “Nigeria remains the most populous in Africa, the seventh globally with an estimated population of over 198 million; the recent World Population Prospects report predicts that by 2050, Nigeria will become the third most populated country in the world.”.
He added that over the last 50 years, the Nigeria’s urban population has grown at an average annual growth rate of more than 6.5 per cent without commensurate increase in social amenities and infrastructure. It grew substantially from 17.3 per cent in 1967 to 49.4 per cent of the country’s total population in 2017.
Mr. Agbo Osuji, of the Population Media Centre, told Blueprint Weekend that: “There is no doubt that any plan to enthrone economic prosperity in Nigeria must include a comprehensive strategy to slow the current growth rate of our population which is currently put at 198 million. It is estimated that at the current rate, the Nigerian population will be verging around 400 million by 2050, making the country the third most populous country in the world.
According to him, “the government’s intention is noble and imperative. China and India have successfully deployed similar policies to prevent population disasters and promote massive economic growth. The question is ‘will Nigeria be able to summon the willpower to implement such a socially-complex policy?’
“Nigerians must be made to see the wisdom in limiting our population growth and aligning it to our economic growth. Otherwise, we will not be able to avoid the disaster that China, with supreme willpower, was able to sidestep to become the world’s second most prosperous economy,” he said.
Is the policy possible?
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, China was implementing the one-child policy in order to check their ballooned population. By the late 1970s, the country’s population was rapidly approaching the
one-billion mark and the leadership headed by Deng Xiaoping, was getting more concerned. Initially, a voluntary programme was announced in late 1978 that encouraged families to have not more than two children, one child preferably. However, in September 1980, the central government standardised the one-child policy nationwide. In a public letter published by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the policy came into effect.
However, the policy was relaxed in 2013 when the National Health and Family Planning Commission said that “China’s population will not grow substantially in the short-term.” According to the Commission, a survey found out that only about half of eligible couples wish to have two children, mostly because of the cost of living impact of a second child. In November, China announced the decision to relax the one-child policy. Under the new policy, families could have two children if one parent, rather than both parents, was an only child.
In between the policy – 1979 and 2013 – China had developed and lifted over 500 million people out of poverty.
Maryam Babangida’s project
Significantly, this is not the first Nigeria is mooting a population control policy. The idea of child policy was proposed in the 1990s, during the military administration of President Ibrahim Babangida. At that time, First Lady Maryam Babangida, made the suggestion through her pet programme, the Better Life for Rural Women, where couples were advised to bear only four children. However, this policy was roundly criticised by the traditional and religious establishments and it didn’t really take off.
Dr. Abdullahi Musa, a Political Economist and Research Fellow, with the Population Action International, a non-governmental organisation, told Blueprint Weekend that: “Right now, this kind of policy will be politically dangerous for any party or administration to make. Population is the lifeline of politics, the more supporters a politician has, the more his chances of getting elected or influencing
policies. Politics is a game of numbers and as long as resource allocation and election are hinged on population, no politician or political party will dare take the bull by the horns.”
According to Dr Musa, “so long as population is seen as
socio-economic and political determinant of who gets what in society, rather than a tool for planning purposes, our population will continue to spiral out of control.’’
Birth control versus economic growth
Ordinarily, human beings constitute the greatest and most potent assets of any country, and given our abundant natural resources, a growing population should be a blessing in Nigeria. In theory, a large
and active population means a productive workforce that will increase the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However, in the reverse the case owing largely to poor Human Development Index, including limited access to health care, quality education, etc. Again, Osuji wondered why it has often been said that
“Nigeria’s population is the strength.” He said: “If we look at it critically, is it really the strength? As far as I am concerned, our population can only be the strength if it is well-educated and healthy
and if the economy has the capacity to provide them with employment that sustains households’ income to buy the goods and services produced by several businesses. If we want to be fair on ourselves, we know this is not the case.”
He added: “Today, Nigerians spend billions of naira on education and medical tourism. The reason for this is because our education and health sectors have virtually collapsed. Yet, these are two key
sectors vital to the development of any nation. Bill Gates and, lately, the World Bank have both emphasised the urgent need for the revitalisation of our health facilities and investment in human
capital. With over 10 million out-of-school children, and millions others with substandard education, Nigeria is in a bind. But we carry on as if all is well. So, how do we begin to fix this? The government
must undertake unpopular policies such as population control.”
Cultural, religious barriers
There is no doubt that the biggest challenge that to the population policy is cultural and religious misconceptions. Mr. Soji Omotosho, a statistician with the Population Watch, told Blueprint Weekend that: “Nigeria is a country where citizens saddle themselves with heavy religious and cultural burdens which they use to sabotage genuine efforts to leverage on best practices to develop the country. I doubt
that the Acting Minister’s plans to dialogue with religious and community leaders will avail much. I hope it does.”
According to him, “to make the policy a success, Nigeria must unfold a regime of incentives and sanctions to curtail procreation.” “The effort to reduce our population growth is not that of the government alone. The people must see the need to key into it. For a society to survive and thrive, its attitude to religion and culture must be pragmatic and progressive.”
Family planning, the way out?
So, what can be done to defuse this ticking time-bomb? Definitely, family planning is going to be a key component in the proposed policy. Significantly, successive Nigerian governments have attempted to promote family planning, but these programmes have had limited impacts due to their modest scope and inability to change deeply embedded cultural and religious sensibilities that encourage large families.
Ms Josephine Edun, the executive director, Safe Motherhood Initiative, a civil society organisation, said: “We do not have effective planning mechanism. There is also no population control mechanism. The country needs a national framework to respond to the population boom, if not there is going to be a complicated economic and cultural crisis.” She, however, pointed out that “pushing birth control is not easy in a society where children are widely regarded as ‘blessings from God, where human interference in such heavenly matters is considered arrogant and presumptuous.”
Similarly, in a lecture she delivered at a workshop organised by the Society for Family Health in Lagos, recently, the Clinical Officer, Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), Mrs. Funke Hassan, said even with lots of awareness campaigns and sensitization programmes by the organisation, some families are still not taking family planning seriously. She said: “Initially, people were not responding that much, but now we are seeing more people coming for family planning. We had to do a lot of mobilisation, campaigns and create awareness. We go to market places, motor parks and other public places to do sensitisation.
“People still have this misconception about family planning that it prevents them from having children. All these beliefs hinder them from coming for family planning. It was a barrier preventing them from accepting family planning but these days, we are seeing more people coming on their own accord, especially as the harsh economic situation in the country bites harder; so they need to control the number of people they have to feed. People now want to limit the number of children they can afford to take care of.”
On her part, Dr Leah John, the director of Centre for Social Research and lecturer, University of Abuja, blames poverty and lack of education as reasons most Nigerian families reject family planning.
She noted that people that give birth to more children are actually the illiterates and the poor in the society.
“From my observation and interaction in the cause of doing this job, I will say that about 70 per cent of people with large families are those that are poor or low income earners and the illiterates. It’s
mainly because they are looking for a particular sex, usually male; they end up having more than five or six children.
“We noticed that when we speak with those who are educated on family planning, they quickly understand us and agree to participate unlike when you are trying to enlighten the less educated ones. That is why we go out a lot to do awareness campaigns to teach more people in local languages the importance of family planning,” she said.
“Cultural and religious barriers stop people from coming in for family planning and this can also lead to population explosion in the country if it is not nipped in the bud. To actualise the population
control policy, federal government must make family planning more accessible and free for everyone as this will encourage more people to come in for it.”
Similarly, Team Leader of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), Edun Omasanjuwa, said government needs to step up advocacy and educate Nigerians on the merit of using FP method.
“Though many NGOs advocate for Family Planning, Nigerians are not embracing the use largely due to cultural beliefs, misconception about its effect on their health and physique and based on religious
beliefs. To ensure a larger acceptance, there is a need for government and NGOs to involve traditional, religious and society influencers in the campaign,” he said.
