Nigeria’s population explosion, a time bomb on FP - Fanimo

ITREALMS:

The recently proclaimed 198 million populations by the office of National Bureau of Statistics, has been described as a waiting time bomb if not well managed, especially for family planning capable of engendering positive development, reports ITRealms.

This caution was sounded by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Leadership Newspapers, Mr Dele Fanimo, when he received at the Lagos office, a delegation of Family Planning Media Advocacy Working Group (FPMAWG) led by its chairperson, Mrs. Chioma Umeha.

For him, the latest Nigerian population at 198 million has an implication on the country in all aspects of the economy, decrying that a session of this population, is the size of some African countries within the sub-region.

“A quarter of this population is almost twice the population of Republic of Benin. The central of this is uncontrolled birth,” he said.

Fanimo pointed out that the implication of the Nigerian huge population could lead to increase in crime and prostitution, stressing that with social dislocation associated with such population explosion, results to underdevelopment and a failed nation.

“Uncontrolled birth is unacceptable because when a man has a big family he cannot cater for, he will have to deny child A to send child B to school, leading to more miscreants, thieves, thugs and hoodlums on our streets and the vicious circle continues,” he said.

In addition, Fanimo described population explosion as a huge problem, for the promotion of family planning, insisting that families must ensure they have children they can cater for.

Earlier in her address, the working group chairperson, Mrs. Umeha, noted that Family Planning (FP) has been a worldwide issue, hence the reason why world leaders, local and international donors and advocates from around the world gathered at an FP Summit in London on July 11, 2017 to discuss efforts to reach the FP 2020 goals and ensure that more women and girls around the world are able to plan their families and their future.

Nigerian government, she pointed out, made a commitment to increase the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from 15 percent to 27 percent by 2020 at that meeting, stressing that government at both the Federal and State have shown commitment to the provision of free FP services to the entire women of child-bearing age in the country.

The reason for this is not far-fetched as different statistics and surveys conducted around the world, have revealed that FP program when effectively done, can lead to a reduction of maternal deaths by up to 34 percent and newborn death by about 15 per cent.

The chairperson was accompanied during the advocacy visit by some members of FP Media Working Group, including Chioma Obinna of Vanguard Newspapers, and Remmy Nweke of DigitalSENSE Africa Media, publishers of NaijaAgroNet and ITRealms; Pastor Olusegun Omotayo Adeboye as well as Mrs Shotomiwa Olubunmi, both of Lagos Advocacy Working Group (LAWG) and Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative(PHSAI), while the acting General Manager, Southern Operation at Leadership, Mrs. Angela Tony Iji, was also on attendance.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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