By Aderogba George

The rapid increase in Nigeria’s population and its implications on sustainable economic development underpins the advocacy for Family Planning (FP).

Nigeria’s current population is estimated at over 230 million, based on Worldometer’s elaboration of the latest UN data.

According to the Worldometer’s elaboration figure, Nigeria’s population is equivalent to 2.85 per cent of the total world population.

The figure ranks Nigeria sixth on the list of countries with dependencies by population, with a population density of about 255 per Km (662 people per mi2).

Only 13m Nigerians registered to access electricity, out of 230m population – NIP

The total land area is 910,770 Km2 (351,650 sq. miles), with about 53.9 per cent of the population living in urban (125,447,884 people in 2024).

The median age in Nigeria is 17.9 years.

Experts who advance FP concept in Nigeria have reiterated the need to checkmate the country’s explosive population growth for the benefit of the country.

According to them, the rate at which the country’s population is growing is a big challenge; hence the need to regulate it with family planning.

Dr Ejike Oji, Chairman, Management Committee, Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP), said that Nigeria committed, in March 2022, to give 120 million Nigerians access to family planning services.

“There is this global partnership initiative that says by 2030, additional 120 million Nigerians should have access to quality FP services.

“Anybody that has any doubt about what FP is will view it from the recent happenings in the country, especially during the recent nationwide protests.

“Nigeria’s population is huge; 35 per cent of the country’s population is under the age of 35 years.

“The larger part of youths in the country is hungry because as a result of certain push and pull factors.

“Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children even much more than India that is about six to seven times bigger than us.

“Nigeria also has the highest number of multi-dimensional poverty in the world within our 220 million people.

“These are signs that we are having our population growth rate running faster than our economic growth rate.

“Therefore, FP becomes the most essential ingredient to curtail the population growth and for planning, planning for development.’’

The AAFP chairman also said that Nigeria’s dependence ratio was estimated at 85 per cent, depending on the remaining 15 per cent or less before they could feed.

According to him, the country has an army of young people who are not in school, not properly educated, unemployable, and unemployed.

Oji also spoke about cases at the Sexual Assault Referral Centres across the country, saying that 80 per cent of victims of rape and other acts of sexual violence reported in those centres were minors.

He said that by 2030, there would be a need to increase Nigeria’s contraceptive prevalence rate of modern methods to 27 per cent from the dismal 12 per cent, a commitment he said the country made to the world.

“If we can go to the 27 per cent, we will get a demography window where we will now be gaining dividends, but if we don’t get to that 27 per cent, we are wasting our time.

“No matter what effort the government is putting towards other issues, especially the economy, if we don’t bring our fertility rate to 4 per couple, we are wasting our time,” he said.

To this end, Oji said a conference of stakeholders had been scheduled to be held between Dec. 2 and Dec. 6 to promote the concept of family planning to assist the country’s economy and development.

In his submission,  Dr Okai Aku, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), said there was a need for policies to be remodeled to supporting the concept of family planning.

According to him, Nigeria faces a population crisis and the country has to think of investment in terms of managing its population with the application of family planning or child spacing.

He debunked the belief that family planning meant putting an end to conception, saying it only helped in terms of managing the population to provide social services for the people.

“We will sensitise Nigerians on the need for everyone to embrace family planning, and how it can be used for planning and development of the country,” he said.

He said that the family planning concept could also alleviate poverty and assist in budget planning and the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Aku reminded that Nigeria committed itself to the promotion of family planning since the 2012 London Summit, adding that there was a need for the country to meet up with that commitment.

On her part, Mrs Geraldine Etuk, the acting National President, National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), who spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting for the advancement of FP, called on women to embrace the concept.

She also called on the government to create an enabling environment that would motivate women to embrace the FP concept.

What’s more, Felicity Ike, the Nigeria Youth Focal Point Personnel for 2030 FP Target for most Nigerians, called on the youths to be the major champions of the concept of FP.

According to her, the youths fall into the category of the country’s population who are most affected by unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

She said that FP was a key strategy that allowed young people to make informed decisions and choices about themselves, adding that FP made the youths plan better about their reproductive health.

“FP is key to helping young people in terms of ensuring they improve on their education, they attain higher education and be able to space their kids and live a healthy life,” she said.

Worthy of note, Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, said Federal Government was determined to increase Modern Contraceptives Prevalence Rate (MCPR) to meet the Family Planning 2030 (FP2030) commitment target of 27 per cent.

Consummately, experts are of the view that, aside reduced risk of maternal mortality, effective FP in Nigeria will lessen economic pressure on the family, society and the nation at large.

News Agency of Nigeria.