UNFPA stresses importance of population control in Nigeria

Poverty and dependency ratio in the country will only be reduced if government and the citizenry will take the issue of population reduction seriously.

The United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) made the revelation in Port Harcourt at the weekend, at a workshop it organised in conjunction with the Rivers State Ministry of Information for Journalists.

According to the UNFPA, the nation's poverty profile and its inherent dependency ratio is traceable to the ever-bloating nature of the population, which is at present not showing any sign of stopping.

The National Project Adviser of UNFPA, Mr Oluwafisan Bankole, explained that Nigeria's population explosion had resulted in deplorable conditions, making it difficult for the nation to develop.

"It is clear that in the nation's population, the weight is heavier at the bottom, which can be translated as the place for the children of ages 0 to 15, which is the nonproductive category," he said.

He noted that "the situation shows that the dependency ratio is very high, with 45 per cent of the population non-productive".

He called on families to heed the call for family planning and produce as much children as they could cater for.

" A lot of people in the country spend about 35 per cent of their lifetime taking care of other people's children because people produce more children than their income both during and after active periods can carry," he said.

The project adviser further called on the government to invest on enlightenment programmes to keep the citizenry aware of prevailing issues on population and development.

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