Get Guardian on Google
The Commissioner representing Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) in the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr. Daniel Aliyu Kwali, has said the FCT now ranks as the fourth most populous city in the country after Lagos, Kano and Ibadan.
In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Cosmas Uzodinma, yesterday, in Abuja, Dr. Aliyu Kwali lamented that of the three other cities, FCT presently has the highest population growth rate of 7.1 percent.
He stressed that the United Nations (UN) has advised that family planning should be exercised responsibly, even as he called on Nigerians in general and FCT residents in particular, to take the issues of birth control and birth spacing seriously.
“Getting correct population estimates of FCT has been fraught with problems, because of its peculiar growth patterns, as well as, the huge dichotomy between the resident population and transient population, people who work in Abuja, but leave the city every day, these people put pressure on FCT facilities and often travel to their hometown during census periods,’’ he said.
[ad]
