Chairman of Chidicon Medical Research Centre, Owerri, Imo State, Prof. Philip Njemanze has warned against the massive use of contraceptives as a means of population control, adding that it is harmful to women’s health .
Njemanze, who is also an academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, UNESCO’s body for space research, revealed this during a conversation with our correspondent on Tuesday.
He said that instead of using contraceptives, natural family planning should be adopted in schools and public facilities.
Njemanze, who is a neurologist, said the population policy was poorly designed to implement population control with contraceptives, adding that “estrogen derivatives are the main active ingredients that cause cancer, blood clots leading to heart attacks, strokes and deep vein thrombosis.
“They will immediately kill the unborn Nigerian and the mother will die excruciatingly slowly. This will result in an increase in the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.
“The MMR in Nigeria is 814 per 100,000 live births. This rate could quadruple with the massive use of contraception in Nigeria. The global MMR was 152 deaths per 100,000 live births, well below that of Nigeria.
He added, “This demographic policy is the biggest threat to the health of Nigerian women. This could be avoided by implementing natural family planning which is more effective and does not have debilitating health effects.
Regarding the overall population control policy, Njemanze said the strategy was not evidence-based.
“Clearly, population reduction is counterproductive to economic development. Population is the main driver of economic growth in the world. The most important index is population density.
“Nigeria in 2020 was at 240 people per square kilometer. This is considered below the threshold of real economic development. In contrast, Singapore is at 8000 people per km2, Hong Kong is at 6690 people per km2. In Lagos, we have a population density of 6,871 people per km2, which is 26.7% of Nigeria’s total GDP and over 50% of non-oil GDP.
“So if we could replicate Lagos in the other six geopolitical zones by population density, we could transform into a G20 economy in less than 10 years. We can only get there through population growth, not depopulation. The attempt by Nigeria’s critics to stem the tide of population growth has become urgent as Nigeria nears the critical threshold of 300 people per square kilometer for economic transformation.
“We must ignore this push and actively promote population growth through a social justice system of equal opportunity. We need to invest in people through health and education. We have to fight the corruption that is robbing us of the development and the future of our youth.
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