THE chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isah Kwarra, stated that Nigeria’s efforts to slow down population increase are not progressing as expected.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja on the sidelines of the third anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Nairobi Summit, Kwarra stated that the commission was concerned about insufficient budgetary allocation for planning.
He emphasized that this prevented women from getting the information and services they needed to make decisions regarding their reproductive lives.
“To be frank with you, we’ve not performed very well in all these areas. So, there’s the need for the government and all stakeholders to step up our game to ensure we provide solutions and answers to those promises we made in Nigeria. If we don’t do these, I don’t see how we can control population growth.
“Given the way we’re going, the economy has to be strong to be able to support continuous growth and if we don’t have that, there’ll be a lot of malnutrition and a lot of crises among the youth who form the majority of the population. So, it’s a call to action to all Nigerians.”
He stated further that Nigeria still has a significant percentage (19%) of married women who still have unmet family planning requirements, as well as a low (12%) contraceptive prevalence rate for unmarried, sexually active women.
Noting that since more women are now ready to utilize contraceptives, there is a greater demand for funding to acquire family planning products.
The country representative for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Ulla Mueller, also bemoaned the federal government’s failure to contribute financially to the purchase of supplies of family planning products.
Adding that the UN had done its part by making them accessible in the country.
She pleaded with the government to release money set aside for the first two years of the commitment as the agency was in desperate need of it.
