Nigeria’s population size has been projected to hit 752 million people in 2100, should the country fail to manage population growth.
Vice President and distinguished scholar, Population Council, New York, John Bongaarts, who revealed this at the weekend while making a presentation titled ‘Nigeria’s population and development future’ during the 10th anniversary celebration of Population Council Nigeria in Abuja.
Bongaarts aid Nigeria’s population size was expected to quadruple between 2015 and 2100 and this would pose a severe challenge.
While stating that the Nigerian government spends less than one percent of the country’s budget on family planning, he said officials should recognize the multi-sectoral benefits of family planning and slower population growth, and make investments in family planning programmes a development priority supported by the government.
According to him, family planning programmes, help women to avoid unplanned pregnancies and thus reduce birth rate, in addition to substantial health, socio-economic, environmental, governmental and political benefits that accrue to countries from fertility decline.
