Nigeria needs strategic population plan

AS the world celebrates the 2024 World Population Day themed, ‘Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope: Ending Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’ today, it should be a springboard for the Nigerian government to improve on population data gathering, analysis and use, for everyone to exercise their human rights and reach their full potential.

The WPD, first observed in 1990, creates an avenue for stakeholders to highlight the difficulties created by overpopulation, and how it may harm human progress and raise awareness about “the rights and choices of those on the margins of our societies,” who need to be counted, according to the UN.

According to population experts, the rapid increase in the world’s population has profound implications for human welfare and the planet. India has been estimated to have the second-largest population after China. While China contributes 18.5 per cent of the world share, India is not far behind with a 17.7 per cent share of the global Apopulation. India is projected to overtake China soon as the world’s most populated country. The United States, however, has a share of 4.3 per cent, as estimated by Worldometer.

As of 2023, Nigeria’s population was estimated at around 226.2 million. Sadly, the country’s actual population figures have been open to conjectures, since the last census was in 2006. It was scheduled to be held in May 2023, but the exercise was rescheduled and the administration of President Bola Tinubu has yet to announce the new dates for the census.

According to the World Population Review, Nigeria has been projected to overtake the US to become the world’s third most populated country by 2051. Africa’s most populous country is reckoned  to increase to 380.20 million by then, 385.60 million in 2052, and 390.93 million in 2053. This is staggering.

Tragically, stark wealth inequality divides the country. About two-thirds of its population live below the poverty line. In 2018, the World Poverty Clock named Nigeria as the global poverty capital with 86.7 million citizens.

A joint study in 2022 by the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office, the UNDP, UNICEF, and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, listed 133 million as living in multidimensional poverty. In 2023, the World Bank said seven million would be added to that figure because of the cancellation of petrol subsidies and the merger of the naira exchange rates.

Without having a precise figure of Nigeria’s population and commensurate plans to ensure that the country’s resources will be sufficient, Nigeria has been thrown into a cycle of overconsumption spiralling towards ecological disruption and collapse.

“More people means an increased demand for food, water, housing, energy, healthcare, transportation and more” which leads to “ecological degradation, increased conflicts, and a higher risks of large scale disasters like pandemics,” as stated by the Population Media Centre.

A spike in population creates an incredible strain on available resources which results in high poverty levels, decreased biodiversity, increased pollution and an exacerbation of climate change. Frighteningly, Nigeria’s Climate Risk profile predicts that 20 per cent of the population will be exposed to heat waves that are detrimental to human health.

At the bedrock of Nigeria’s unregulated population lies the scourge of child marriages, lack of education, misconceptions about family planning, a politicisation of population counts, and religious or cultural norms that prevent many women from accessing reproductive healthcare.

The government and relevant stakeholders need to develop and implement a strategic population plan that seeks to count and ensure an adequate distribution of resources among citizens. Religious organisations and traditional institutions should collaborate with health agencies to promote awareness of reproductive rights, support the girl-child education and ensure that citizens have access to family planning.