Minister urges state government’s to review population policy

Isaac Adewole, has urged state governments to review their population policy and implementation approaches with a view to making families embrace moderate size.

He noted that with over 190 million people, and still counting, vigorous awareness creation about the essence of moderate family size, especially in rural areas, has become necessary.

At the inaugural Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin Annual Memorial Lecture yesterday in Abuja, the minister said Nigeria needed to invest about $652 million over the next five years on high-impact family planning.

He said with the current annual growth rate of 3.2 percent, it was projected that Nigeria would be the 3rd most populous country in the world by 2020, with the population doubling by 2030.

According to the minister, the rapid population growth rate can be attributed to the high Tomainlytal Fertility Rate (TFR) of 5.5 children per woman and low contraceptive prevalence rate of 15 percent based on the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey (2013 NDHS) pregnancies.

Adewole said the ministry had made efforts to increase domestic financing for the family planning programme through interventions like payment of $3 million in 2017 as counterpart funds for procurement of contraceptives and $4 million annually from 2018 to 2020.