The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria), has called on Nigerians to embrace smaller family to avert poverty, and other socio-economic upheavals.
By Chimezie Godfrey
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria), has called on Nigerians to embrace smaller family to avert poverty, and other socio-economic upheavals.
CISLAC in collaboration with Population Matters made the advocacy at the Population Conservation Seminar held on Tuesday in Abuja.
Delivering the welcome remark, the Executive Director, CISLAC/Head, Transparency International (TI) Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani noted that population affects every facet of societal development.
“While population affects every facet of societal development, discussion around population remains uncommon in Nigeria; and this puts Nigeria’s population which is projected to reach 400 million by 2050, doubling the current estimate, at a demographic nightmare.
“We cannot conceal the fact that with the current inadequate awareness on consequences of population at citizenry and policy levels as well as the unattended impact on national planning, Nigeria has not efficiently harnessed its population to achieve development goals.
“This fact has been buttressed by multiplier effects of youth unemployment, insecurity, inaccessible healthcare services, food insecurity, education inequality and other challenges that undermine socio-economic development of Nigeria.
“Regrettably, Nigeria is among the top five countries in the world with the highest under-five mortality rates. In addition to the general leading causes of under-five mortality, studies have highlighted the survival probabilities, the impact of socio-economic, demographic and environmental factors as major threats to the survival of under-five mortality in Nigeria.
“While a significant function of girl child education in Nigeria is to provide her with diverse basic knowledge, skills, and training which contribute to personal development and the overall national development, more than 50% of girls are not attending school at the basic education level, while 1 million girls drop out between the first and last year of primary school (UNICEF). In addition, Nigeria accounts for 20% of all out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly 20 million out-of-school children (Malala Fund).
“Likewise, in Nigeria, about 53.40% of youths are unemployed according to youth unemployment rates released by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2022. This again exposes our country to most of the social crimes perpetuated by youths including the accelerated level of prostitution, armed robbery, rape and all facets of violence can be largely attributed to the incidence of unemployment of youths.
“Given, this background, we cannot deny the fact that the time has come for Nigerians to begin to embrace the idea of smaller family to boycott ravaging poverty, youth unemployment, child mortality and other socio-economic upheavals,” he said.
Rafsanjani disclosed that the Nigeria Population Conversation project is necessitated by the need to engender people-oriented participation and harvest perception on population to shape policy direction for well-informed national planning to achieve the overall demographic advantage for sustainable development.
“More importantly, wide gap has been observed in population literacy at individual levels; and this poses further challenges to demographic accountability, as the main stakeholders in Nigeria Population Conversation.
“It is worthy of a note that active participation by Nigerians across the six geo-political zones in the Population Perception Survey report that will be launched here today is a clear indication of citizens’ readiness for constructive conversation on population and its impacts on their well-being as well as living standards. This without doubt will serve as a baseline for further conversation on population at all levels in Nigeria and beyond.
“We are hopeful that fact-findings from the report would be leveraged by relevant state and non-state actors in amplifying conversation on population, while shaping policy decision and direction towards inclusive planning and development in Nigeria.
“We sincerely hope that immediate formation of Nigeria Population Matters Network will be put into a consideration as a major outcome of the Conversation today, to further amplify awareness and cascade recommendations across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.
“It is in light of this that by Population Matters UK and CISLAC/TI-Nigeria are championing this critical Seminar bringing together highly valuable resources to reflect on the areas of challenges and next steps in our development journey.
“Our appreciation goes to the Population Matters UK for this unique opportunity to open up inclusive conversations on population in Nigeria,” Rafsanjani said.
Speaking on the human population and the environment, Member of the Advisory Board, Population Matters, Dr Mrs Edu Effiom stressed that maintaining the ecosystem in its natural form is critical for human wellbeing in a rapidly warming world.
“Hence more than 65% of Paris Agreement signatories commit to restoring or conserving ecosystems. Intact forests, and especially tropical forests, sequester twice as much carbon as planted monocultures. However, in recent decades, there has been an extensive loss-of tropical forests. Almost half of the African continent is affected by land degradation (Bai et al 2008) and unless urgent and concerted action is taken, land degradation in the tropics will worsen in the face of population growth, unprecedented consumption, increasingly globalized economy and climate change (IPBES 2018).
“Now this IPBES report is at variance with the findings of a recent survey conducted by PM where majority of the 723 key informants could not perceive the link between the population growth and ecosystem wellbeing. And of course, when we talk about ecosystem, we are referring to all life-forms, including you and I and our children, plants, animals and our habitats and associated inter-relationships (functions and processes).
“Population Action International agrees with IPBES that Human population size, growth, density and migration are underlying causes of biodiversity loss. Underlying because these indices trigger the drivers of habitat (land, water bodies) degradation and ultimately loss,” she said.
Dr. Effiom added,”According to Population Action International Global population is projected to grow to between 8 billion and 11 billion by the middle of the century, with much of the growth expected to take place in the humid tropics (one of the key reason being high fertility rate).Nigeria is the most populated in Africa with an annual population growth of abc
2.7%.
“Should we be worried, yes, this has consequences on everything especially ecosystem, why rapid population growth is in the humid tropics that has the planet’s richest forms of biodiversity. Increased demand for goods and services, to meet the needs of a growing population will undoubtedly exert more pressure on the components of environment- biodiversity, ecosystems, and climate.”
On what can be done address the challenge of over population in Nigeria, Dr Effiom said,”What can we do: take the IPBES report more seriously by addressing the two major indirect drivers of environmental degradation- by extension poverty and hunger. These are population growth and unprecedented consumption. When we gain traction in these two areas, the issue of climate change will to a considerable extent be addressed.
“Slow down population growth: This will not only ease off pressure on the living environment, but will also empower women and their families. Why because women are the worst hit in situations like these, high fertility rate is link to women reproduction – What would you think of a girl child given in marriage at age 12, who give birth to a set of twins at 15, no education, with little or no support to meet her needs and that of her babies. We are barely scratching the surface here, the adverse impact of population growth on the vulnerable group is a discussion for another day.
“We have to rethink girl child marriage, empower the girl child through good education. This will considerably check population growth with corresponding benefit of a better life for the girl child.
“Go for affordable, creative and ethical planned parenthood, partner/collaborate with national population commission, education sector, NGOs, individuals, religion and traditional institutions to drive these processes.
“Compliment the effort of Afr100: The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) is a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of land in Africa into restoration by 2030. It aims to accelerate restoration to enhance food security, increase climate change resilience and mitigation, and combat rural poverty. So govt reps pls take note.
“Unprecedented consumption: human impact on the environment is a produe of not just our our numbers but also our consumption. We must address both.
“Reduce conversion of primary forest to monocultures for massive ga This is becoming very rampant in the global south with vast expand palm, rubber and cocoa plantation
“End massive pollution of ecosystems via oil spillage on mangrove and coastal areas.”
She further advocated mitigation measures which she said includes; intensive climate-friendly agriculture, infrastructure, increased awareness & advocacy, more studies on the direct effect of increase population on the environment needed, and that multinationals should be made to play by the books.
She also urged that the citizens should demand accountability from national government.
The high point of the event was the launch of the Nigeria population: ‘Citizens’ Perception Survey Report’.
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