‘Nigeria to host 25% of world’s extremely poor by 2050’

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFah) has projected that the country could be home to 25 per cent of the world’s population of people living in extreme poverty by 2050.

In a statement, PACFah, which is a pilot programme of Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), echoed the projection that by 2050, Nigeria’s population will hit 402 million people.

It warned of the impending poverty implications of this growing population, saying, “This is a frightening eventuality, more so in the context of increasing physical, cyber and fiscal insecurity.”

The non-governmental agency noted the effort of government and politicians at national and state levels to address the looming poverty future for Nigeria’s population, including the commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

PACFah said, “That government has taken an economic response to Nigeria’s poverty present and future is a good thing worthy of praise, but it is good enough when disarticulated from a population policy.”

It drew attention to the significance of birth spacing through family planning policy as part of national population policy to manage population growth.

It further said, “As Nigeria moves forward to alleviate the poverty of its masses and as the Federal Ministry of Finance is poised to roll out its new Medium Term Expenditure Framework, there is an urgent need to heed the recommendations and words of caution of MDAs focused on population growth.”