Considering the present predicament of Nigeria, where we have the highest population in Africa (1 in 5 Africans are Nigerians) and it is  still exploding (grew 63% in 15 years only, UK population grew 20% in 40 years), despite the reality we are struggling to cater for the existing 140m people as a vast majority live in abject poverty, is it not time we set up a plan to control the population?

The UN estimates that our population by 2050 would be in the region of 236m. In comparison to wealthier countries that are having a reduction or stagnation in population, is it not silly to not start managing the population explosion now as we will only have more people fighting for scarce resources.

Furthermore, climate change is predicted to affect the way we live, including our system of food production, in a negative way e.g. unpredictable weather erodes our agricultural knowledge and leads to food shortage, expansion of the Sahara desert southwards leading to less arable land.

Historically, fight for limited resources is a potential catalyst for communal clashes and wars.

Does it not make sense for our government to start implementing a plan to reduce/manage our population?

If so, what are the policies that might help in doing this.

Note: This is a serious thread, all unnecessary and meaningless jokes are not welcomed as they derail the good points. Furthermore, IDS in the subject title stands for "Intellectual Discussion Session", so if you have nothing intelligent to contribute refrain from contributing ^{Becomerich and Ikeyman001, take note!}. Thanks.

Let the discussions begin.

Sagamite:

Note: This is a serious thread, all unnecessary and meaningless jokes are not welcomed. Furthermore, IDS in the subject title stands for "Intellectual Discussion Session", so if you have nothing intelligent to contribute refrain from contributing. Thanks.

I hope you can refrain from needlessly hurling abuse when opinions that conflict with yours pop up.

@topic
I don't see our population as an issue. Nigerias problems stem from two things:
[list]
[li]A lack of definition of a contract between citizen and state[/li]
[li]Too much power situated at the center[/li]
[/list]

If we can resolve the above, Nigeria's problems would be history.
Have it in mind that China has one fifth of the Worlds population within its borders, but is the Worlds most powerful economy today.
Nigeria does not have limited resources, what we have are a miriad untapped resources (human and material). Oil has provided such easy money that all other avenues of making money and development have been abandoned.
We do not even have even the most basic instituitions to usher in a culture of development; if you need to publish a science paper (a la Einstein), where do you go? If you require statistics on beans consumption in different forms in Warri, Kaduna and Abeokuta, where do you go? If you invent a new mechanism, what hope in the World do you have of properly marketting it?

My brother, this population thing is just oyimbo people decieving us so that we put the cart before the horse.

Beaf:

I hope you can refrain from needlessly hurling abuse when opinions that conflict with yours pop up.

I don't hurl abuse when opinions conflict with mine. I only hurl abuse when opinion is basically too silly as the author's argument:

1) Is blatantly full of mere conjectures which they can't defend when requested
2) Is blatantly tribalistic without reasonable supporting logic
3) Clearly has no supporting facts and figures, where the facts and figures is easy to get if only a small effort is made and these proves contradictory to the silly arguments
4) Is dogmatically retained despite strong facts proving otherwise being provided by others
5) Provides misplaced, irrelevant or non-aligned facts to back a faulty argument line
6) Has facts clearly put in front of them but can not do the simplest analysis and produce another moronic opinion

Beaf:

@topic
I don't see our population as an issue. Nigerias problems stem from two things:
[list]
[li]A lack of definition of a contract between citizen and state[/li]
[li]Too much power situated at the center[/li]
[/list]

If we can resolve the above, Nigeria's problems would be history.
Have it in mind that China has one fifth of the Worlds population within its borders, but is the Worlds most powerful economy today.
Nigeria does not have limited resources, what we have are a miriad untapped resources (human and material). Oil has provided such easy money that all other avenues of making money and development have been abandoned.
We do not even have even the most basic instituitions to usher in a culture of development; if you need to publish a science paper (a la Einstein), where do you go? If you require statistics on beans consumption in different forms in Warri, Kaduna and Abeokuta, where do you go? If you invent a new mechanism, what hope in the World do you have of properly marketting it?

My brother, this population thing is just oyimbo people decieving us so that we put the cart before the horse.

Good points.

But the reports I am reading is that the human race is increasingly overstretching the available natural resources as we are living longer and polluting the atmosphere.

Basically

1) More of us are utilising limited resources
2) Climate Change will affect what we can produce as the knowledge we use in production would be obsolete as the climate changes and becomes unpredictable

Obviously, your argument is that we are not managing what we have well at the moment, and if we did, we would be better off. I think that is right but if we take the above 2 points into the equation, is there not a risk that careful management  might not be enough on its own?

The points you have brought up are more relevant to the West (in particular, the US) where consumption and carbon footprint are high.

The issue of climate change really applies only to the Niger Delta where we release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa combined. But we can control those emitions by doing things properly.

The whole World, not just Nigeria needs to look at consumption levels. The beauty of our situation is that nature works in our favour, if only we could harness it.

One of the prerequisites of development is the availability of convertible energy (usually electrical).
I have not looked at the figures, but the amount of solar insolation in the Sahara is conjectured to be enough to power Europe. While we might not have the luxury of a local "Sahara", we do have enough solar energy from North to South to power the nation 24/7.
We also have a long coastline with powerful waves; however, each year we cry about the ravages wave breaches at bar beach. We could harness that power instead.

Without an equitable national arrangement that recognises the responsibilities of citizen to state and the reverse, all steps forward will be mired in the entropy that is the battle for domination of the centre.
What we lack is organisation.

PS Hurling abuse as a first line of defence doesn't tell well no matter what.

Beaf:

The points you have brought up are more relevant to the West (in particular, the US) where consumption and carbon footprint are high.

The issue of climate change really applies only to the Niger Delta where we release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa combined. But we can control those emitions by doing things properly.

The point was not about who is polluting, it was about how it impacts. And according to all reports, Africa is likely to have the highest impact in regards to climate change. Hence the West are the biggest damagers and Africa is the biggest loser.

So we need to know how to manage ourselves if things are not put in reverse gear.

Beaf:

The whole World, not just Nigeria needs to look at consumption levels. The beauty of our situation is that nature works in our favour, if only we could harness it.

One of the prerequisites of development is the availability of convertible energy (usually electrical).
I have not looked at the figures, but the amount of solar insolation in the Sahara is conjectured to be enough to power Europe. While we might not have the luxury of a local "Sahara", we do have enough solar energy from North to South to power the nation 24/7.
We also have a long coastline with powerful waves; however, each year we cry about the ravages wave breaches at bar beach. We could harness that power instead.

Without an equitable national arrangement that recognises the responsibilities of citizen to state and the reverse, all steps forward will be mired in the entropy that is the battle for domination of the centre.
What we lack is organisation.

Agreed.

Beaf:

PS Hurling abuse as a first line of defence doesn't tell well no matter what.

It is not my first line of defence, it is my first line of disregardful once I gauge the effort of conversion/convincing is not even worth it. And I feel it is appropraite in the circumstances.

The Nigerian government are finally having sense to say what I have been saying for years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18610751

[size=18pt]Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan urges birth control[/size]

Nigerians should limit the number of children they are having, according to the country's leader.

President Goodluck Jonathan said people were having too many children, and went on to back birth control measures.

He said that in particular, uneducated people were having too many children, and urged people to only have as many children as they could afford.

The United Nations has estimated that the population of Nigeria could grow from 160m to 400m by 2050.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and previous attempts to encourage adults to have fewer children have failed.

BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says population growth is increasing pressure on the land which is a major trigger of violence in the country.

Mr Jonathan said legislation and policies aimed at controlling the number of births might be considered in future.

He said he had asked the National Population Commission to inform people about birth control before taking the issue further.

The president acknowledged that the issue was a sensitive one, saying: "We are extremely religious people... It is a very sensitive thing."

Mr Jonathan was quoted as saying: "Both Christians and Muslims, and even traditionalist and all the other religions, believe that children are God's gifts to man.

"So it is difficult for you to tell any Nigerian to number their children because... it is not expected to reject God's gifts."