Why High Fertility Rate Has Become a Big Problem In Nigeria

The Nigerian society is one that treasures children, and in fact, there is little or no sense of fulfillment in any marriage which has not produced children.

The other side of the matter is that high rate of fertility is increasingly becoming a source of concern to stakeholders in the health sector..

They are of the opinion that hihg fertiity rate is a major reason for Nigeria’s slow economic growth.

They are thus advocating for more engagements at the state and local government level in order to reduce the country’s fertility rate now 5.3 as against the global rate of 2.5.

They also stress that in order to reduce maternal mortality, unemployment, poverty, insurgency, etc, that there is need for inclusive, equitable, transparent, and qualitative family planning services.

All of these were major action points at a media dialogue organised by the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) and Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, Dr Ejike Oji, a Public Health Advocate and Family Planning Champion, said: “Nigeria is in a demographic crisis. Ten years ago, we were shouting at the top of our voices that in ten years’ time, Nigeria will be in a crisis situation, and it is happening now. Our population has grown tremendously since the last time we had our census in 2006. Then, we say we are 140 million. We are now 210 million and still counting.

“The only problem here is that our fertility rate is high and it means we are producing more people than we can take care of at any point in time. A lot of people refer to India and China as being populous countries, and their economies are doing well. But anyone who has been in touch with reality in the past 50 years, will know that China and India were one of the poorest nations of this world, until they did something.

“So, the fertility rate is the problem. The world met in 1991, where the international conference on population and development was held in Cairo. At that time, the world’s total fertility rate was 5.5. The world said – if we need to see progress in human development, we must by 2025 reduce our annual global fertility rate to 2.5. In 2019, the world had attained a fertility rate of 2.5. It means the world has moved in the right direction. Nigeria’s fertility rate is still at 5.3.

“The dependency ratio in Nigeria now is about 85.5 percent. In order words, the people who are producing what other people are eating and using are below 20 percent of the population. 70 percent of our population is under the age of 30.

“This means we have young people who have aspirations in life; some of them have been properly trained, but they don’t have jobs. You also have young people who are incapable of doing any smart jobs because they are uneducated and untrained.

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“So, because the aspirations of the youths have been blunted, they will seek greener pastures to a country where they feel they can do some good. Also, because of the youthful bulge in the country, religious, traditional and political bigots recruit those young ones to perpetuate their evils.”

-Adapted from The Nation.