The population of Nigeria will hit 400 million by 2050, the Rotary Action Group for Reproductive Maternal and Child Health (RMCH), has said.
It also said that the country’s population is projected to reach 260 million by 2030.
National Coordinator of RMCH, a non governmental oorganisation, Prof. Emmanuel Lufadeju, said this at the launch of the nationwide family planning media campaign.
He said the campaign tagged ‘Hold On’ is aimed at enlightening women about the available choices of preventing unintended and risky pregnancies, spacing their births to enjoy better quality of life, or stopping childbirth when they have had enough.
“The population of Nigeria today is 200 million. In nine years’ time, we are going to add about 60 million to the population. So we are going to a population of 260 million people by 2030,” he said.
“By 2050 our population will double to 400 million, you can imagine what is going to happen if 400 million people occupy the same space in this country with resources , water, electricity, and all good things of life like hospital facilities not expanding.”
He said despite the fact that 90 percent of women of child-bearing age in the country have knowledge about contraceptives, only 15 percent use them .
The Minister of State for Health, Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora, said family planning has the potential of reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity by 30 per cent.
He said it’s successful implementation is key to achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The minister said the challenges to Nigeria’s target of achieving Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) of 27 percent by 2024 include inadequate financing for family planning, and delayed release of budgets, among others.
