ABSTRACT
Nigeria’s high rate of population growth has long been accepted as a serious obstacle to a faster economic growth. Unfortunately, no program or a deliberate attempt has been made yet to reduce fertility. The First National Development Plan (1962-68) formally recognized the problem and stated thus: The population is increasing at a faster rate than the provision of new facilities. Health services, housing, schools, transport, and water are already inadequate. Despite major investments, the situation is liable to deteriorate further if the present rate of population increases continues.1
The Second Development Plan (1970-74) went a step forward to provide a framework for expanding and integrating family planning programs. Specifically, a Population Council was established to coordinate all population policy activities. The Plan described the situation as follows: Nigeria is going through a demographic transition phase of rising birth rate and declining death rate, leading to a potentially high rate of population growth. Available evidence suggests an estimated population growth rate of 2.5 percent per annum. Per capita income is, by world standard, still low. The youth dependency ratio is quite high and so is the rate of urbanization. Given the structure and techniques of production, a high proportion of the gainfully occupied population is concentrated in low-productive sectors of national economic activity. There is therefore, a high rate of urban unemployment and disguised unemployment. All these factors combined, would have suggested stringent population control measures, but for her resource base and development potentials. The magnitude of the country's population is unlikely to be such that calls for extensive emergency action. Given the promising resource base of the economy, the country can, through careful planning, succeed in buying time to ward off undue population pressure. What seems appropriate in the present circumstances of Nigeria is for the government to encourage the citizens to develop a balanced view of opportunities for individual family planning on a voluntary basis, with a view to raising the quality of life of their offsprings.
