WORLD POPULATION DAY: NPC CALLS FOR ADVOCACY ON BIRTH CONTROL
REPORTER: CHIZOBA OPARA
As Nigeria joins the global community to celebrate the World Population Day, concerned persons have identified birth control and economic situation as issues that need to be addressed to have virile, productive and healthy population.
World Population Day is observed annually on the July 11, since 1990.
The day is to highlight the problems that come with growing global population considering the world resources depleting at unsustainable rate with Nigeria inclusive.
Statistics from the Census Bureau of the United States projects Nigeria as the most populated country in Africa, with an estimated population of over 216 million people placing Nigeria as the 6th with the largest human figure in the world.
Speaking on the day, the Imo State Director National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Myor Ike, called for intensified grassroots advocacy on the accessibility and adoption of modern family planning methods to mitigate the danger of over population.
He attributed the massive increase in Nigeria population to high birth rates, lack of family planning due to superstitious and other religious beliefs hindering the acceptance.
“People should do away with superstitious and other religious beliefs hindering access to family planning and we also call on the people to support the advocacy for a national census as that is the only way to know our true population and ensure proper planning,” the NPC State Director advised.
Mr. Ike, who called for responsible parenthood, limited family sizes and child spacing, also appealed to various governments to make family planning services accessible at no cost, especially in the rural areas.
In his contribution, a democracy activist, Dr. Jude Ohanele, expressed regret that the present economic situation in Nigeria called for sober reflection among families, especially in the area of number of children they can responsibly take care of within the limits of their resources.
“All hands must be on deck for people to understand the implications of their actions so as to avoid over population which leads to deepen poverty and increase in crime in the society,” Dr. Ohanele said.
Dr. Ohanele maintained that the increasing cost of living in the country and the growing rate of population remained a bane to health, social and economic development of the country.
The World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to emphasize the global increasing population and shade light on the health problems faced by women during childbirth, making the need for family planning more important.
The 2023 theme of the celebration is “unleashing the power of gender equality: uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock the world’s infinite possibilities.”
EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU
