Former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ghana and Mauritania, Bala Sani, has warned that Nigeria, among other countries will face a food crisis and dwindling resources as the world population is projected to almost double by 2050.
He said experts have projected that the population doubles after every 25 years, hence the world population could reach 16 billion, up from the current eight billion.
He spoke in Kano during the United Nations Pact for the Future Summit Step Down Workshop in Kano state held at Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria (MAAUN).
The program was organized by MAAUN, MECIN Consults, Da Hausa Initiative, GSAI and FJNN.
He however lamented that adequate planning has not been made in terms of resources to cater for the population.
Ambassador Sani said, “Experts say the population doubles after every 25 years. So we are eight billion now and by the year 2050, we will be 16 billion people. Some countries have already adopted family planning techniques, but not in Africa and Asia. Some European countries do so however”.
Asked how Nigeria could turn its population to blessing as it is projected to be third most populous country by 2050, the former Ambassador said the country should adopt some of the bigger populations’ policies like China, to suit its situation.
“We have to apply the law of the situation. There are many factors which we have to take into account in feeding our people. For instance, the IMF and the World Bank are saying the government has to remove all subsidies to settle debts. But this is economics, but politically it is dangerous.
One of the workshop organisers and founder, MECIN Consults, Dr Khadija Sanusi Gumbi said the event will inform people on issues discussed and adopted at the United Nations.
She explained that the workshop stepped down the training to Kano to gather all like minds together and acquaint them with the pact’s contents ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September.
Gumbi, who lectures at Bayero University Kano (BUK), also said, “The workshop is aimed at aligning local objectives to the global environment.
“We are way behind the line in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which is just five years to end but we have not made a lot of the impact that the pact of the future is important. We adopt that global common agenda. And, the gap is due to lack of involving individuals at the grassroot level.
Also speaking, founder of Da Hausa Literacy Initiative, Laila Sanusi Gumbi, said the summit of the future was an outcome of the UN summit last year where countries signed three important documents, one of which is the Pact of the Future.
She said, “This was because of the way they saw that the world has changed and SDGs may not be achieved by 2030. So they rallied together and came with some commitments, which they signed in September last year.
“We as a consortium, found it important to bring this information to more people, because not everybody went to the UN to hear these things. And most of the times, when things are signed on our behalf, we may not have the opportunity to read the document to know what was signed on our behalf,” Laila Gumbi added.
She also said the rate at which Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI changed the way people work, think and inter-relate as well as conflict widespread in the world necessitate the pact, saying the challenges were not in place when SDGs were designed.
MAAUN President, Dr Muhammad Israr, thanked the organisers for choosing his institution to host the event, saying that it serves as a platform to share knowledge and ideas on ways of making progress and innovation in the world.
