Experts have expressed displeasure over high fertility rates in Nigeria, calling for the need for the trend to be curbed.
According to them, the manner in which Nigerians give birth portends great problems for the country, saying if the growing population is not controlled urgently, Nigeria’s population may increase to 450 million by year 2050.
Expressing their concerns at a media roundtable ahead of the eighth Nigeria Family Planning Conference organised by the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and other family planning stakeholders in Abuja, the experts indicated the need to reduce fertility rate in the country to four per cent.
The Chairman of the Management Committee and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the conference, Dr Ejike Oji, said if Nigeria continues with the same fertility rate that it currently has, the nation’s population is going to hit 450 million by 2050.
Explaining how the nation’s population increases every year, he said no fewer than four million people is being added on a yearly basis and thus described it as a lot of challenges for the country.
He said India and China were able to top the world economically after they were able to cut their fertility rates.
He said the countries also invested in their young population, adding that Nigeria has the opportunity to emulate these thriving nations and become economically viable.
In the same vein, the Managing Director of FP 2030 North, West, Central Africa Hub, Dr Martin Migombano, said 28.5 per cent of maternal mortality in the world happens in Nigeria.
He called on religious leaders, the government, financial partners who are donors, and others to work towards taming the tide of overpopulation.
According to him, this could be done through the grassroots, where women actually should access family planning.
A consultant at Amref International, Mrs Ifesinachi Eze said disruptions in family planning and reproductive health services in humanitarian settings leave women with unmet family planning needs.
Eze also called for collaborative solutions to the situation.