The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retired), launched the revised National Population Policy for Sustainable Development, stressing the need for urgent action to address Nigeria’s high fertility rate, by expanding access to modern contraceptive methods throughout the country.
The president also inaugurated the National Population Management Council, chaired by him, and the vice president as vice president with the heads of relevant ministries, departments and agencies as members.
Details of the two events were contained in a statement by Buhari’s Special Assistant for Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, titled “Nigeria Seeks Urgent Measures to Address High Fertility Rate as President Buhari Launches a revised population policy”, Thursday.
Speaking on the country’s revised population policy in Abuja, the President said that its overall objective was to improve the quality of life and standard of living of all Nigerians, which was one of the main aspirations of his administration.
He said: “The policy underscores the urgency of addressing Nigeria’s high and sustained fertility rate, by expanding access to modern family planning, counseling and commodities, as well as promoting spacing. births.
“This will enable Nigeria to achieve rapid fertility control, improve the health of women, adolescents, newborns and children, as well as other population groups.”
Buhari noted that the population of Nigeria, which was the largest in Africa, the seventh largest in the world and among the few whose fertility continues to grow, was based on a young population, with more than 72% of them having less 30 years old while half of the female population is in their childbearing years (15-49 years old).
“These levels have implications for sustained population growth and diminished prospects for achieving population management, facilitating sufficient demographic transition, harnessing our demographic endowment, and ultimately achieving sustainable development,” he said.
Regarding other highlights of the revised population policy, the President explained that it underscored the importance of investing in quality education for young people (especially girls), the development of human capital and advancing the holistic effort to achieve a meaningful demographic transition.
He said, “The Revised Population Policy is rich with all the necessary information that will guide the implementation of Nigeria’s medium-term and forward-looking development plan.
“It will respond more to the concerns of the large population of young people who are our pride, our future and assets to drive our development efforts.”
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