Nigeria’s Population: A Time Bomb

Nigeria is wracked by serious socio-economic issues. These include the problems of insecurity, economic retrogression, a weakening currency, unemployment, corruption in high and low places, falling education standards, infrastructure decay, large scale brain drain, etc.

Over the years, these issues seem to have not only defied solutions, but have actually degenerated into crisis that requires foreign interventions and assistance. There also seems to be no hope in sight that the situation could be remedied in the nearest future. In fact, all signs currently point to the opposite direction.

We already know what the problems are. They stare at us in the face daily. How then do we remedy the situation? What are we doing wrong and what should we do differently to get things back on track? After all, a wise man once said that "Insanity makes people do things the same way and expect different result". Underdevelopment and economic retrogression have become cancerous in Nigeria because our policies are not people-centered. Humans are the only active part of organisations and societies. Other factors like money, technology, materials and infrastructure require humans to convert them from passivity to activity. That is why any socio-economic marshal plan that doesn't have humans at its core is bound to hit a brick wall.

Nigeria is said to be the giant of Africa due to her large population. That statement is however very fallacious because population is about people and not numbers. Population is not an asset if it is not self-sustaining in terms of production of basic goods and services needed for local consumption and export. Sadly, ours is an economy that consumes more than it produces. That population cannot be said to be an asset. At independence in 1960, Nigeria's population was 46 million while that of Britain and Northern Ireland, put together was 52 million. By 2015, the former had increased to 185 million while the latter's increased to 62 million.

Going by the same indices as provided by population pyramid, the population of Britain and Northern Ireland is expected to increase to 80 million while Nigeria's is expected to be 550 million by 2050. We must think about the implication of such a huge population on socioinfrastructure, public amenities and government's policies to influence economic growth. This is the real economic litmus test of the future. Herein lies our demographic time bomb. There are two approaches to solving this problem.

First is to encourage and enlighten people to keep their reproductive tendencies in check. We must as a matter of urgency entrench population control in our legislations, irrespective of what culture or religion says.

Our people must be made to realise the obvious truth that culture and religion are social constructions. The world is changing at a very fast pace and we cannot afford to be left behind. The same good book that said: 'Go ye and multiply is the same that said: 'my people perish for lack of knowledge'. This is the standard practice in the countries from where these religions come.

A word should be enough for the wise. Nigeria recently overtook India as the country with the poorest people in the world. These are drastic times that require drastic measures. Secondly, workers must be adequately remunerated. The working population usually ranges from 18-65. The implication is that every other person out of the category is either a minor or aged. They depend on the working age group for survival, in most cases. Most workers obviously have siblings, offsprings or spouses. The pay package must take this fact into cognisance. This is the only way to improve productivity, improve education and drastically reduce crime and youth restiveness.

The government in turn also stands to benefit more because an increase in the population's propensity to spend and invest directly translates to more revenues in taxes. That means more funds for the government to fund existing or new projects. This is how it is done in advanced countries. Our workers must be so financially empowered to the extent that they are able to invest in the private sector to promote a more vibrant economy.

This is the best way to create more employment for the teeming population. Government should stop deluding itself about job creation. All over the world, it is the private sector that provides jobs, not government. We are in the age of the intellect and we cannot afford to be left behind.