FG not planning to stunt population growth – Finance minister

The Federal Government has said it would not introduce a policy to stunt population growth.

The latest United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) data puts Nigeria’s current population at 201 million, a figure the National Population Commission (NPC) has described as a mere assumption and doesn’t represent the real population

of Nigeria.

The last national census in Nigeria was conducted all over the country in 1991. This was the most scientific and most acceptable until the 2006 Population and Housing Census which had put Nigeria’s population 140 Million.

In 2018, the NPC put Nigeria’s population at 198 million people, with urban population growing at an average annual growth rate of about 6.5 per cent.

Thus, Nigeria’s population might not be less than 200m in 2019, a situation that has left economic watchers worried. They contend, a significant portion of the population are uneducated and constitute largely economic burden on the rest of the productive citizens.

But speaking yesterday in Abuja at the international Monetary Fund’s regional economic outlook presentation, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said the federal government isn’t contemplating limiting birth rate in the short term.

Mrs. Ahmed who was represented at the event by the Permanent SecretarySpecial Duties, Dr. Mohammed Dikwa, said: “the issue of population control is an issue that has to involve a lot of massive consultation. There must be legislation for that purpose. But as at now, the government has no intention of controlling population growth.”

The CBN Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate, Mr. Joseph Nnana said Nigeria’s population is growing faster than its GDP. “All things equal, we will have between 2.8 and 3 percent GDP growth for 2019. However, three percent GDP growth rate for Nigeria is inadequate when our population growth rate is 3.2 percent. So the capital growth rate is slightly negative” he explained.