THE seeming national debate of late on the rising population of Nigeria, and concern over its implications for development and security is healthy. It is equally in tandem with global interest over the issue, which has necessarily become important in terms of size and composition. Ultimately, government should fathom out an appropriate policy from the debates, such that the country's resources can be harnessed to meet the demand of its exploding human constituents.Even the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had cause to express his dissatisfaction with the growth rate of Nigeria's population, which the 2011 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) puts at 2.5 per cent, even as some put it atabout 3.2 per cent. Similarly, the nation has grown from 140 million strong according to the 2006 national census, to 167 million according to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). Indeed, the CIA World Fact book estimates Nigeria's population to be more than 170million as at July 2012. At the present rate, the population of Nigeria is projected by the UNDP to hit 257.8 million by the year 2030. These figures must have alarmed Dr. Jonathan enough to, at the inauguration ofthe chairman and commissioners of the National Population Commission, hint at a plan to legislate some form of population control.There are good reasons that a nation must manage its population vis--vis its resources in order to remain secure. Population surely has far-reaching implications for change, development and the quality of life. A nation with more mouths than it can feed is condemned to be at the mercy of other nations. Food insecurity is, for individuals as for nations, the most serious form of insecurity. Besides, a large population may overburden health, education, power, transportation and other critical infrastructure that are sine-qua-non for the development of the human resource that, in turn, is the key to national development and progress. A shortage of the basic necessities of life causes social unrest and threatens peace and stability. For these and other reasons, the rate of population growth is a social, economic, and political issue that need be of concern to the government and the governed. However, to begin to compare Nigeria with such countries as China and India is misplaced, without alluding to other resources available to the country and the prospect of harnessing them. For a landmass of nearly a million square kilometres, blessed with a large mass of arable land and a wide variety of flora and fauna, as well as manyminerals in commercial quantities, Nigeria is most endowed tosupport the present population and make the best of it. And here lies the crux of the matter.China, with about ten times Nigeria's population does not import food for its teeming citizens; Nigeria not only does import food but such food items as rice and palm oil that it can perfectly produce. Nigeria ranks high among theoil producing countries but stands miserably low on the human development scale: Nigeria'slevel of unemployment i.e. putting citizens to productive, wealth-creating work remainsintolerably high. The point is simple and clear: there is enough in the land for every citizen if the resources are equitably shared and opportunities are allowed by those entrusted to manage the affairs of the nation. The problem, therefore, isnot so much with a rising population as the misappropriation, nay, the brazen theft of the commonwealth by a cabal in politics, government, business, and other sectors of society.The point needs to be made too that a large population can be an asset or a burden. On the one hand,alarge trained,skilled and productive populationproducesgoods and servicesthatmeet theneeds of the largeinternal market, andsurplus for export. The local economy can only be the better for it. Again China with its billion plus population is a good example. So is the United States that is about twice Nigeria in population. On the other hand, a large poorly educated, unskilled, and unproductive population is unemployable and is a body of unemployed consumers of food and other necessities of life. It is a time bomb waiting to explode. In sum, the president should concern himself less with the growing population; and more with creating an environment conducive for the people to be productive and useful to themselves and their country. In any case, legislating birth control is less likely to be effective ' forreasons that include cultural attitudes and religious values ' than public education and enlightenment.
Click here to read full news..
