FAILED LEADERSHIP, NOT POPULATION (1)

Sonnie Ekwowusi argues that the country’s problem is due to bad governance

Not infrequently, the National Population Commission (NPC), obviously labouring under the neo-imperialist servitude of the United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA), does not fail to “remind” us that Nigeria is overpopulated and therefore doomed unless it sheds its excess population weight. Delivering Nigeria’s statement on Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration at the 51st Session of Commission on Population and Development (CPD 51) held at the United Nations headquarters in New York from April 9-13, 2018 the Chairman of NPC, Chief Eze Duruiheoma SAN, reiterated the same NPC gospel. He told his host that Nigeria’s current population was 198 million and that Nigeria was burdened by the aforesaid population figure.

To begin with, the NPC, with the greatest respect, is a failed institution. Why? The NPC has not managed to conduct any successful census in Nigeria that has been free from political manipulation and unending controversies. The NPC does not even know the population of Nigeria. The national population census was last conducted in 2006. In that count, the NPC claimed that Nigeria’s population was 193,392,517. Of course, the figure was trailed by controversies. Some states lampooned the federal government and the NPC for the wrong population figures “assigned” to them. Lagos State government under Bola Tinubu went ahead and sued the federal government and the NPC at the National Population Census Tribunal. In 2013 the same NPC publicly declared that Nigeria’s population was 170 million. In 2016 the United Nations claimed that the population of Nigeria was 188,906,160. In 2017 the then Director-General of the NPC Ghaji Bello, stated that Nigeria’s population was 182 million, with more than half its people under 30 years of age. In the same 2017 the same NPC surprisingly put our population at 190,886,311. Surprisingly again, on Saturday, April 14, 2018 the United Nations claimed that the population of Nigeria was 194,758,861. Then just last week the NPC declared in New York that Nigeria’s population was 198 million.

The deduction from the above demographic somersaults is that the NPC does not know the population of Nigeria. So, where did Chief Duruiheoma get the figure he was lavishly quoting in New York? From his imagination or that of the United Nations’? One person who had unearthed the corruption at the NPC was the former chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) Festus Odimegwu. In fact Chief Odimegwu revealed one truth that shocked many Nigerians: he said that the NPC did not know the population of Nigeria, and that the various population figures declared in the past by the NPC and government-owed agencies had been based on distorted and fictitious figures presented by the World Bank, United Nations and other international bodies. In the words of Chief Festus Odimegwu, “we do not really know our population; that is the truth of the matter. We do our work but politicians interfere and at the end, you do not really know what population or census figures are….”

Answering question from The Punch Newspaper during a

THE CAUSE OF OUR POLITICAL, SOCIOCULTURAL AND ECONOMIC WOES IN NIGERIA IS FAILED LEADERSHIP OR WHAT SOME OFTENTIMES REFER TO AS FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE

courtesy visit to the NPC by a delegation of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Odimegwu said, “…the population of China is over two billion, India is 1.2 billion. Nigeria ranks about the 10th in the world population. If other countries are surviving, I don’t think we will kill ourselves...The important thing is having the resources to make people live a good life. Good living is not determined by the population but by so many other things. If some countries have large populations and are living well, Nigerians can also have good lives.”

Anambra State Director of the National Population Commission (NPC), Joachin Ulasi, has also stated that Nigeria is not over-populated in spite of it being more than 180 million people. According to him, instead of seeing Nigeria’s population as a liability, the vibrant young people that constitute the bulk of Nigeria’s population should be seen as indeed a vibrant work force that should be used to fast-track Nigeria’s economic growth. According to Ulasi, “We are lucky to be middle-heavy. If you go to Britain, you will notice that they have top-heavy population which means that they have more of old people. In Nigeria we have more of young people who are productive and that shows that our population is of quality, and if we manage our population well, Nigeria will be able to produce what it needs”.

But assuming that Chief Eze Duruiheoma is right and that Nigeria is truly over-populated, is overpopulation the cause of our woes and miseries in Nigeria? Or, to put it more poignantly, is overpopulation the cause of our backwardness in Nigeria? Sincerely speaking, I am yet to fathom the depth of the hypothesis that overpopulation is the cause of our curse in Nigeria. The cause of our political, socio-cultural and economic woes in Nigeria is failed leadership or what some oftentimes refer to as failure of governance. Therefore let nobody seek any alibi in overpopulation. And let me quickly add that the contention that Nigeria is not suffering from overpopulation is not borne out of any religious dogmatic sentiments: it stems from simple reasoning. Human beings are supposed to be rational beings who reason things out in order to arrive at the truth.

Therefore any Nigerian who tries to do a bit of reasoning will come to the conclusion that Nigeria’s myriads of woes are not caused by overpopulation but failed leadership. Even if Nigeria’s population were reduced to 50 million our problems would have remained unsolved. Is overpopulation the cause of corruption, kleptomania, or stealing of public funds otherwise called looting in Nigeria? Is overpopulation the cause of the Fulani herdsmen attacks and murder in different Nigerian communities? Is overpopulation the cause of the lopsided political appointments in Nigeria? Is overpopulation the cause of Boko Haram terrorist attacks and Chibok and Dapchi girls’ murder and incarceration? Is overpopulation the cause of diversion of foodstuffs meant for the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) to the private homes of those in charge of IDPs Camps? Is overpopulation the cause of the potholes and craters encumbering our expressways?