Is Nigeria Overpopulated?

Our unchecked population growth amid decaying infrastructure is worrisome and President Goodluck Jonathan’s move to present a bill to check the worrisome growth is commendable. But the problem is beyond curbing the growth. It is more a problem of looking at the effect the growth rate on the economy.

In 1950, Nigeria’s population was put at about 36 million and by 2000, it had grown to 125 million, about fourfold increase in 50 years. It has even been estimated that our population would increase eight more times before 2050, and it seems nobody is really worried that a calamity is staring us in the face.

Though food shortages, environmental deterioration, health challenges, road and air crashes, Boko Haram and other dangerous clashes between neighbours and communities continue to claim lives, the birth rate must drop or an even greater calamity looms.

Nigeria has often been touted as the most populous country in Africa. We have been rated as the 10th in the world, but the runaway population growth in the face of dwindling infrastructure may be the last straw.

The implication of the growth rate on the ability of the economy to grow commensurately with and cope the increased population size is better imagined.

President Jonathan’s bill to check the growth is just an infinitesimal move in the face of this looming disaster. Though it is a move in the right direction, we need to check other factors contributing to this galloping growth.

More than ever, we need to look into the uncontrolled migration by our poorer neighbours in Chad, Niger and other countries. We need to look into the issue of culture, religion and the growing of poverty. We need to educate the people about birth control.

It is sad that low income families have more kids that the rich, thus ensuring that poverty thrives in this part of the world. We need to work on educating people that we need to reduce our growth rate if we want to become a nation to be reckoned with in the comity on nations.

Already, so many Nigerians have left our shores in search of better opportunities. Must we continue to give birth to children whose future is uncertain.

We don’t even know our real population, hence the Nigerian Population Commission, NPC, needs to step up work on the national identity card project and set up a proper data bank on our population and growth rate, to enable it inform us how many we really are. Experts do not believe Nigeria is overpopulated. We may be densely populated but definitely not overpopulated because if we are better governed, we have enough resources to take care of every Nigerian.