Nigeria not doing enough to reduce population growth — NPC

Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isah Kwarra, says Nigeria’s commitment to reducing its population growth is not going as planned. Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the sidelines of third anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Nairobi Summit, Kwarra said inadequate budgetary allocation for planning was of concern to the commission. […]

Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isah Kwarra, says Nigeria’s commitment to reducing its population growth is not going as planned.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the sidelines of third anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Nairobi Summit, Kwarra said inadequate budgetary allocation for planning was of concern to the commission.

He said this made women lack access to information and services that allow choices regarding their reproductive life.

“To be frank with you, we’ve not performed very well in all these areas. So, there’s the need for the government and all stakeholders to step up our game to ensure we provide solutions and answers to those promises we made in Nigeria. If we don’t do these, I don’t see how we can control population growth.

“Given the way we’re going, the economy has to be strong to be able to support continuous growth and if we don’t have that, there’ll be a lot of malnutrition and a lot of crises among the youth who form the majority of the population. So, it’s a call to action to all Nigerians.”

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He noted that Nigeria still ranks among countries with high percentage (19) of unmet needs for family planning among currently married women; and 48 per cent among sexually active unmarried women, with contraceptive prevalence rate low at12 per cent.

He called for the need for more budget to purchase family planning commodities as more women are now willing to use contraceptives.

Country Representative, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Ulla Mueller, decried the federal government’s unwillingness to meet up with its financial contribution towards the procurement of supply of family planning commodities.

She said the UN had fulfilled its part in making them available in the country.

She urged the government to release funds allocated for the first two years of the commitment as the agency was dire need of it.