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Thu, Mar

To Improve Quality Of Life, We Must Revise Population Policy - PMB

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President Muhammadu Buhari, during the inauguration of the National Council on Population Management (NCPM), has urged the country to control its population so as to improve the quality of life and standards of living among citizens. Therefore, launched the Revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development. President Buhari warned that Nigeria, despite having Africa’s largest population in Africa and seventh (7th) globally, is still growing and most of its population are within the fertility stage, youthful with over 72% of below the age of 30.

According to him, “The policy emphasizes the urgency to address Nigeria’s sustained high fertility rate, through expanding access to modern family planning, counselling and commodities as well as promote births spacing.

“This will enable Nigeria to achieve rapid fertility control, improve the health of women, adolescents, newborns and children, and other population groups."These levels have implications for sustained population growth and narrowed prospects to achieving population management, facilitating sufficient demographic transition, harnessing our demographic endowment and eventually realizing sustainable development.

“The Revised Population Policy is rich with all necessary information that will guide the implementation of Nigeria’s Mid-term and Perspective Development Plan.”

The president added that the implementation of the policy would require credible, reliable, timely, robust, geo-referenced and well-disaggregated data. He also expressed confidence that the data generated from the forthcoming census, will provide all the information needed for the successful implementation of the new policy.

Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, has also urged Nigerians to embrace the noble ideals of Planned Parenthood and healthy reproductive behaviours enunciated in the policy.

UN Resident Coordinator, Nigeria, Mathias Schmale said the Policy brings to the forefront the linkages between population and development and will inform work and services to improve the well-being and lives of Nigerians.

He added that the successful implementation of the National Policy will very likely have positive implications for maternal health development, youth and adolescent rights and the empowerment of women and the girl child.

He further pledged that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is responsible for providing support for the generation of quality data, will continue to work with the NPC to help ensure that Nigeria’s forthcoming census meets local and international standards and acceptability.

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