The Nigerian government says it remain resolute towards achieving the country’s demographic dividends.
The Chairman of National Population Commission in Nigeria Mr Nasir Kwarra said critical sectors such as education, health good governance were imperative in Fast-Tracking Demographic Transition in Nigeria.
Mr. Kwarra who made the statement in Abuja Nigeria’s Capital during a stakeholders conference on Demographic Dividends identified fertility decline as a major step to Demographic Transition.
Demographic Dividend is the level of economic stability achieved by a country with a shift in it’s population structure from high to dependence ratio to low dependence ratio among the working population.
He also called on stakeholders to “support the conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census” so as to provide data for national planing and development in the country.
The Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila said Nigeria may face population explosion and that the Nigerian parliament would continue to make “laws that would help to Fast-Track the country’s demographic transition.”
Mr. Gbajabiamila also said that “Members of the House of Representatives have shown commitment to achieving Demographic Transition through training of youths on skill acquisition.”
He said increase in poverty index was not particular with Nigeria but a global issue, but that there was need to fast-track underscores and the urgency to double action.
A Nigeria’s parliamenteerian Mr Lawal Idrisou, the Chairman, House Committee on Population assured of the committee”s support to achieve demographic transition.
The Country Director, World Bank in Nigeria, Dr Shubam Chaudhuri emphasised the imperatives of good policies and programmes for children.
Dr. Chaudhuri said that education and healthcare for children were essential pillars required for Demographic Transition.
He called for more funding and investment in all sectors of the economy, saying that Nigeria has the lowest level of public spending in the world.
Educating the girl child
The Country Representative, UN Population Fund, UNFPA, in Nigeria, Ms Ulla Mueller said that demographic transition could not be fast tracked without educating the girl child.
Mueller called for immediate end to child marriage which according to her was a deprivation of the girl child’s education and health rights.
The Emir of Shonga Dr. Haliru Yahaya affirmed the commitment of the traditional institution to fertility reduction through child spacing.
The royal Father said there should be no “procreation of many children without provision of adequate care and education for them.”
Lateefah Ibrahim
