UN advises Nigerian government to improve quality of life
of the people as population hits seven billion – By Correspondent Chinyere Ogbonna – A UN Population Fund top official in Nigerian has advised the Nigerian government to focus how to improve the quality of lives of its people.
The UN official, Dr. Agathe Lawson, who made the recommendation, expressed concern about the rapid population growth in the country amidst poverty and slow economic development.
As the world population hits the seven-billion-mark,Nigeria’s population is on an incline as well.
Nigeria’s population is estimated to have increased from 148 million to 160 million people in October, a situation which calls for food security and increased efforts to eradicate poverty in the country.
According to demographers, the world’s population hit one billion in 1804 and it took 123 years to hit the two billion mark in 1927. However, the pace has accelerated considerably — hitting three billion in 1959, four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in1998 and now, seven billion.
The UNPF report indicates that five million children are born inNigeria on a yearly basis. Couples are encouraged to have smaller families.
Health experts however say there is still a strong aversion to birth control and family planning, especially amongst the poor.
Shout-Africa.com gathered that Hospitals in Abuja the nation’s capital, Lagos and elsewhere in the country, witness the birth of about fifteen to twenty newborns on a daily basis.
The growing population calls for concern as the rate of the nation’s development does not commensurate with the population growth.
A good number of Nigerians still live below the poverty line and the rate of unemployment in the country remains very high.
Nigeriarequires planning and the right investments in terms of infrastructure to make the difference and be able to cope with the hike in population.
These problems are expected to be tackled through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The United Nations expects the global population to explode in the next eighty years and the world could surpass the fifteen billion mark by the end of the century.
