STILL ON THE POPULATION QUESTION
It’s time to address the country’s population growth
With the theme ‘Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world’, the World Population Day 2025 was celebrated last Friday in many countries. But not surprisingly, it was not marked in Nigeria. Established by the United Nations and first observed on 11th July 1989, the whole idea is to raise awareness about how population issues impact society. If a sustainable society is the one with moderate population growth that enables its members to achieve a high quality of life in ways that are ecologically sustainable, it goes without saying that a growing population that is not matched with commensurate socio-economic development can only breed chaos. That precisely is the case with Nigeria today.
Nigeria is among the fastest growing countries of the world in terms of population. According to the United Nations population prediction, by the year 2050, three of the 10 most populous countries in the world will be in Africa with more than a quarter of them in Nigeria. Against the background that uncontrolled population growth is already stretching the few infrastructure facilities in the country and contributing in large measure to the poor standards of living, there is indeed an urgent need to address the dire consequences of this challenge.
The essence of the World Population Day is to engender conversations on how individual well-being and socio-economic development of society are often conditioned on population dynamics. It also serves as a reminder for countries like Nigeria that a growing population presents both challenges and opportunities. Indeed, one of the issues that should task authorities in Nigeria is the growing unemployment, especially among young people. A combination of rising unemployment, booming demography, and unfulfilled aspirations, according to the World Bank, result in increasing pressure on young Nigerians to migrate in search of gainful employment overseas.
The World Bank has in recent years warned that Nigeria is currently undergoing the worst unemployment crisis in its history. Three years ago, it authored a report, ‘Of Roads Less Travelled: Assessing the Potential for Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth’. The report particularly raised the alarm over the nation’s expanding working-age population combined with scarce domestic employment opportunities amid dwindling resources. This, according to the report, was creating high rates of unemployment, especially for the growing youth population.
Nigeria has a lot to worry about concerning a population that continues to bulge exponentially, at a period the nation is ranked among the poorest people in the world. We are saddled with high incidence of unemployment, predominant production of primary goods over finished products, aging public infrastructure, opaque system of government as well as the activities of criminals who are pushing people from rural communities. The high rate of out-of-school children and poor output in the education sector also contribute negatively to deepening this problem as the nation churns out a crop of uncompetitive youth in a new world driven by technology, skills, and knowledge.
On a positive note, at a time when the population of many countries in Europe and Asia is ageing, Nigeria’s young population could be a demographic advantage. But that is only if authorities in the country can design appropriate policies for them to acquire the requisite skills. To the extent that there is no such thing, then there is the need to worry. Therefore, the relevant stakeholders should begin to focus their attention on how to avert this ticking time bomb. To address the challenge, we must start with the much-needed conversation on population control in Nigeria.
