Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday in Abuja described population growth without adequate management as cancerous and a time bomb waiting to explode.
He spoke at a dialogue on implementation of the National Population Policy organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, in collaboration with the Partnership for Child and Family Health at Scale with the support of the development Research and Project Centre.
Osinbajo, represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Maryam Uwais, said Nigeria urgently needed to build on the sub-national economies for support on its rapidly growing population.
According to him, when population is not properly managed, it results in excessive pressure on natural resources, increase in crime rate, insufficient food, unemployment or underemployment, inadequate housing, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, poor human capital indices in so many spheres, insecurity and instability.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan noted that the imputation of political motives into population programmes is the reason related matters are often controversial.
Director-General, NIPSS, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, said Nigeria‘s population grew from 135.3m in 2004 to 201m in 2020.
