NIGERIA could become the fifth most populous country in the world, teetering on the edge of a “demographic disaster” unless its stagnant economy rapidly

expands to support its teeming youth population, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Estimates in the report by the British Council showed Nigeria’s population of 150 million people will swell by another 63 million people by 2050.

Nigeria will have a ready supply of workers into the future with more than 40 per cent of the West African nation’s population younger than 14.

However, the oil-rich nation’s gross domestic product remained flat as its population multiplied in the last two decades, leaving it dangerously out of balance unless true economic development takes hold, the report said.

“Large cohorts of unemployed or underemployed young people destabilise their societies, fuelling crime and creating conditions where civil conflict becomes more likely,” it said. “Instead of collecting a dividend, a country that is not well prepared to make the most of its Baby Boom generation can find itself in the midst of a demographic disaster.”

To avoid that chaos, the report urges Nigeria’s government to step away from relying solely on its crude oil revenues and encourage investment in emerging industries like telecommunication and manufacturing.

Nigeria has yet to show such bold moves after it emerged into democracy a decade ago in the wake of the chaos of military dictatorships and coups following its independence from Britain in 1960. Blinded by oil money, the government allowed the country’s one-time dominant agricultural economy to be devastated and many of the nation’s factories sit idle.

Illiteracy remains high as an education gap grows wider — children have access to better schooling in the Christian-majority South compared to those in the Muslim North, the report said.

But even an education cannot guarantee a job. The report said 30 per cent of those who completed secondary education remain unemployed. Meanwhile, those without opportunities in the North will be susceptible to radicalisation — a dangerous precedent in a region already prone to religious violence that borders nations where terror group al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb already operates.

The report also suggests Nigeria’s government offer “family planning” services to slow its population growth.

The British Council, a nonprofit organisation, is sponsored by the U.K. government and other organisations.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/10531-nigeria-close-to-population-disaster-british-council-raises-alarm

Alaba market, Una dey hear?

Silly British, their sons and daughter will be bailing out Naija and all those illegally created colonies. Their governments will tax their people mad to provide aid and bailouts lol.

You cant have your cake and eat it.

The same thing they said about India and China. They created the bulk of the problems Nigeria is grapling with today.

this is stupid and i'll be ashamed to see nigerians fall for this nonsense.

what population disaster? because nigeria's population is bigger then their?
why point to nigeria even, is it the biggest country in the world, or even the fastest growing?

are dutch telling the british their population is heading for disaster cause it's too big? is vatican city saying the same to the dutch?

Nigeria's population is fine as is. Our resources are more then enough to support us, barely 10% of our potention farmland has been tapped, there's more oil to be found, more minerals and industry and finance is JUST now starting.


our stagnant economy will soon be supporting their stagnant economy.



Economic Growth Rates

Nigeria
6.1% (2009 est.)

United Kingdom
-4.9% (2009 est.)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html



Nigeria's population growth is actually very stable

Nigeria
Population growth rate:
1.999% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 61





i guess the 61st fastest growing population in the world is the one that's racing to disaster right.

oyibo people are hopeless and hate the fact the coming century will belong to others.

I love it when i see brilliant people

@Ikengawo

Ure full of substance

cheers

Ikengawo:

this is silly and i'll be ashamed to see nigerians fall for this nonsense.

what population disaster? because nigeria's population is bigger then their?
why point to nigeria even, is it the biggest country in the world, or even the fastest growing?

are dutch telling the british their population is heading for disaster cause it's too big? is vatican city saying the same to the dutch?

Nigeria's population is fine as is. Our resources are more then enough to support us, barely 10% of our potention farmland has been tapped, there's more oil to be found, more minerals and industry and finance is JUST now starting.


our stagnant economy will soon be supporting their stagnant economy.



Economic Growth Rates

Nigeria
6.1% (2009 est.)

United Kingdom
-4.9% (2009 est.)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html



Nigeria's population growth is actually very stable

Nigeria
Population growth rate:
1.999% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 61





i guess the 61st fastest growing population in the world is the one that's racing to disaster right.

oyibo people are hopeless and hate the fact the coming century will belong to others.

With people like Ikengawo; there is still plenty of hope for Nigeria. Nice job!

This seems devastating but before then d youth of Naija will put things in order, Lets empower one another cos its one of the way out.

Nice one Ikengawo, Do we blame them. If nt 4 our greedy leaders, corruption and mismanagement; we shld b 1 forecastin disaster 4 them.

tkb417:

I love it when i see brilliant people

@Ikengawo

Ure full of substance

cheers

NO!!! D guy is not full of substance, the guy is full of poo. Read on for justification.

Ikengawo:

this is silly and i'll be ashamed to see nigerians fall for this nonsense.

what population disaster? because nigeria's population is bigger then their?
why point to nigeria even, is it the biggest country in the world, or even the fastest growing?

are dutch telling the british their population is heading for disaster cause it's too big? is vatican city saying the same to the dutch?

Nigeria's population is fine as is. Our resources are more then enough to support us, barely 10% of our potention farmland has been tapped, there's more oil to be found, more minerals and industry and finance is JUST now starting.


our stagnant economy will soon be supporting their stagnant economy.



Economic Growth Rates

Nigeria
6.1% (2009 est.)

United Kingdom
-4.9% (2009 est.)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html



Nigeria's population growth is actually very stable

Nigeria
 Population growth rate:
1.999% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 61





i guess the 61st fastest growing population in the world is the one that's racing to disaster right.

oyibo people are hopeless and hate the fact the coming century will belong to others.

@Kengawo, pls read this VERY WELL and pls kindly not make this same mistake again. You said Nigeria's growth rate is 1.999%, where did u get dat from, I bet you are mistaken.  Before, I comment further, my position on this post is this: In as much as am not supporting the 'assertion' of the British Council, we need not turn a deaf ear.

@kengawo and @oisehumen. This report did not say Nigeria WILL have demographic disaster but is says and i quote NIGERIA could become the fifth most populous country in the world, teetering on the edge of a “demographic disaster” unless its stagnant economy rapidly

expands to support its teeming youth population. Please, kindly take note of words written in bold font. They indicate what they call conditional statement meaning if you dont add 3 with 5, you would not get 8. Period.
Yes! Nigeria has untapped resources, i agree with u. But what about the already tapped resources, has it OBJECTIVELY translated into better condition of living for the impoverished masses. Also, are the mineral been tapped sustainably, are we tapping our resources in such a way to leave them for generations to come.
The report is just telling us that if we dont empower our youth through expansion of economy (wealth creation, constant electricity, improved infrastructural devt, increased standard of education), we could be heading for a demographic disaster. I BELIEVE IT , THIS IS A FACT. HOW AND WHY??
Fact is anything that can be verified, right? Yes it is. You just need to look beyond u and i that have access to the internet and are some how better off than many fellow country men and women. But blive u me, it does not end with us. There are millions of people that cant provide for their daily needs, cos no jobs, and cos economic situations in the country are not conducive for small and medium scale enterprises (small and medium scale enterprises account for more 80% of firms in Nigeria)

Lastly, I stand to be corrected, concerning the population growth rate that ikengawo posted, @ikengawo, u are dead wrong, pls consult the office of National Demographic and Health Survey. In demographic study, there is some thing they call 'doubling period' - it is a period at which the population of a country is likely to be twice its current population, as at 2003, Nigeria was at the verge of doubling in 30 years even though the worst is not over yet, we are still making strides even though not giant.
I BELIEVE THIS REPORT IS CREDIBLE AND IF IT MUST BE CRITICISED, IT HAS TO BE DONE OBJECTIVELY AND NOT BASED ON SENTIMENT OR ANY POLITICAL AFFILIATION!

Nice one Ikengawo but still we need to put our house in order.

A typical Nigerian family has no business having more than 2 children

How can we grow if we dont put a leach on our exploding population.Infrastructure,is already at abysmal condition,huge population and ill-governanace makes it worse

@Ayowumie
Ur so correct, am not supporting what the british said But ikenagwo isn't all that rite abt his stat, But we realy need 2 be careful

U don hear am Naija. Enough of 6 children family when the hubby is on minimum wage and wife underemployed.

Nigeria's population growth rate relative to the growth rate of the economy is precarious. There is a reason why China went to the extreme point of compelling one child families. If you don't have sustainable population and economic growth rates, you will have more Boko Harams, MENDs and graduate kidnappers/armed robbers.

^i agree, but all those things are coming cause too many in the nigerian population are DISENFRANCHISED, not cause too many nigerians exist. Our population is disenfranchising a lot of our population because there's too little for too many, but i say there's no population problem because we haven't utilized 20% of our potential.

Nice one Ikengawo but still we need to put our house in order.

A typical Nigerian family has no business having more than 2 children

How can we grow if we dont put a leach on our exploding population.Infrastructure,is already at abysmal condition,huge population and ill-governanace makes it worse

educating women is the only means of controlling population growth in a democracy.
but it's not a matter of 'there's too many nigerians' it's a matter of 'too little of nigeria is being utilized'


if Japans population started to explode they would have a problem. They have reached their vertical limit, they have utilized almost everything their country has to offer. They have little to no available land, and less resources, but their population is stable due to high education of women.

nigeria is no where near its vertical limit in economic development and growth and with our potential we could very honestly support close to half of all of africa.

but we aren't reaching for that limit as hard as we need to be and that's why we're having mends and boko harams.

we have the potential to employ these ppl and that's the key. vast swaths of nigerias land is underpopulated and under developed, they're still finding oil wells, and foreign and domestic investment are still growing in double digits cause at their current rate they haven't come close to feeding the demand nigeria produces.

in time it will happen, nigerians need to be patient and have faith cause the time never ends, the waiting period is just going to be frustrating and painful but the country is actually on a very good path.

MrPrsdent:

Nice one Ikengawo but still we need to put our house in order.

A typical Nigerian family has no business having more than 2 children

How can we grow if we dont put a leach on our exploding population.Infrastructure,is already at abysmal condition,huge population and ill-governanace makes it worse

I am supporting this broda. I think we need to get a grip on our exploding population by trying to limit the number of kids people have. But for those that cant help it, maybe making a mistake and having 3 kids should be allowed  

@Kengawo, pls read this VERY WELL and pls kindly not make this same mistake again. You said Nigeria's growth rate is 1.999%, where did u get dat from, I bet you are mistaken. Before, I comment further, my position on this post is this: In as much as am not supporting the 'assertion' of the British Council, we need not turn a deaf ear.

@kengawo and @oisehumen. This report did not say Nigeria WILL have demographic disaster but is says and i quote NIGERIA could become the fifth most populous country in the world, teetering on the edge of a “demographic disaster” unless its stagnant economy rapidly

expands to support its teeming youth population. Please, kindly take note of words written in bold font. They indicate what they call conditional statement meaning if you dont add 3 with 5, you would not get 8. Period.
Yes! Nigeria has untapped resources, i agree with u. But what about the already tapped resources, has it OBJECTIVELY translated into better condition of living for the impoverished masses. Also, are the mineral been tapped sustainably, are we tapping our resources in such a way to leave them for generations to come.
The report is just telling us that if we dont empower our youth through expansion of economy (wealth creation, constant electricity, improved infrastructural devt, increased standard of education), we could be heading for a demographic disaster. I BELIEVE IT , THIS IS A FACT. HOW AND WHY??
Fact is anything that can be verified, right? Yes it is. You just need to look beyond u and i that have access to the internet and are some how better off than many fellow country men and women. But blive u me, it does not end with us. There are millions of people that cant provide for their daily needs, cos no jobs, and cos economic situations in the country are not conducive for small and medium scale enterprises (small and medium scale enterprises account for more 80% of firms in Nigeria)

Lastly, I stand to be corrected, concerning the population growth rate that ikengawo posted, @ikengawo, u are dead wrong, pls consult the office of National Demographic and Health Survey. In demographic study, there is some thing they call 'doubling period' - it is a period at which the population of a country is likely to be twice its current population, as at 2003, Nigeria was at the verge of doubling in 30 years even though the worst is not over yet, we are still making strides even though not giant.
I BELIEVE THIS REPORT IS CREDIBLE AND IF IT MUST BE CRITICISED, IT HAS TO BE DONE OBJECTIVELY AND NOT BASED ON SENTIMENT OR ANY POLITICAL AFFILIATION!

i got my stats from the CIA worldfactbook.
our economy is nowhere near stagnate, theirs is,
our 'already' tapped resources aren't any where near enough.
we produce 2.327 million bbl/day in oil and have 149,229,090 ppl, the saudis produce 8.728 million bbl/day and have a population of 28,686,633

so as much as we think our 'already tapped resources' are bountiful, they're nothing in scale of how large nigeria is. our states have larger populations then most african countries and significantly smaller budgets.

but have the potential to produce more wealth then those african countries that is under utilized.

nigerians #1 under utilized resource is nigerian people.

education. education. education.

All,

Nigeria is not overpopulated. There is no population disaster in Nigeria now. We have abundant resources. Our problem is leadership greed, mismanagement and corruption.

Everyone must not discount the fact that we are not utilising our economic resources wisely. This could lead to poverty on a larger scale - population growth or not.

Britain is not as rich as Nigeria in terms of natural resources, human resources and climate.

In fact Britain is mostly surviving on tax revenue.

Nigeria leaders should wake-up and lead the country.

we have 150 million ppl in the country and they don't even pay tax.
just an example of the under utilization of nigeria

Every university graduate should be settled by the FG with atlist 500k to be selfemployed make electricity constant like in Enugu.

Na waoooo ooh, some are missign the point. it is not the growth-rate and size that matters but what you do with it.

With Nigeria's size do we have the right levels of employment and skilled human capital to take rank us among the top 10 fast -growing nation (not fast-growing illiterate nation)

We have more employed illiterate okada riders than literate skilled engineers and doctors etc   so really we do have a population disastaer on the horizon

lagerwhenindoubt:

right levels of employment and skilled human capital to take rank us among the top 10 fast -growing nation (not fast-growing illiterate nation)

We have more employed illiterate okada riders than literate skilled engineers and doctors etc so really we do have a population disastaer on the horizon

As much as graduate literacy will be encouraged, Nigeria does not need graduates to do simple agricultural work. Nigeria need to manage its human resources properly.

In Britain, USA and Europe, graduates do not pick fruits and tomates in the farms. Those are the work of unskilled workforce. Nigeria has high unskilled workforce to do the agricultural jobs.

they shoul mind their business

Nigeria is not UK or America. Britian the small country the size of 2 medium
Nigerian States just cant tell Nigerians what is good for our intrest.

let the population grow we need it, it just that the government we hav do not know hw to harness the potential e.g china India

This is why their English Value system can not be applied in Nigeria because Nigeria is a totally diffrent country. Lets start back giving the kings and traditional rulers some autonomy.

While I agree to an extent with Ikenagwo's analysis, I believe Nigeria's population is unregulated and uncontrolled by the Federal Government. No amount of Family Planning information will make sense to couples that are living in terrible poverty. I have been privileged to visit some rural communities in South Western Nigeria as a Youth Corper. I must confess that even though they are going through the harshest form of poverty, some Nigerians are still making loads of babies. There is this belief in Nigeria that the more children you have, you're guaranteed of being taken care of in the future when you're old. My parents had seven of us and they were able to take care of us and send us all to university. This is because Nigeria was still a good country when my parents started making babies. Today, the country has grave socio-economic problems and poverty is on the rise for those who are not well informed.

Are we even sure about the number of Nigerians in the country? Do we have a proper way of recording the births and deaths of Nigerians? Does the National Population Commission [ NPC ] have offices in all the Local Government Areas of the country? The National Population Commission has to start issuing official birth and death certificates to Nigerians all over the country.  A database of Nigerians also has to be opened. There is no way Nigeria will develop if we don't have a way of monitoring our population with a view to use the statistics gathered for developmental purposes. We have to start from somewhere. The advanced world conducts censuses to know the number of people in their countries, so that resources will be shared accordingly.  Statistics aid development. Cheers.


www.vibes-extra..com

I belive our size is okay and they way forward is by makeing the states slightly independent and not allow them to wait for the FG for everything and same should be done with the local Govt too, to generate funds from their areas and recieve support from the FG not waiting on the Oil money

@Kengawo, pls read this VERY WELL and pls kindly not make this same mistake again. You said Nigeria's growth rate is 1.999%, where did u get dat from, I bet you are mistaken. Before, I comment further, my position on this post is this: In as much as am not supporting the 'assertion' of the British Council, we need not turn a deaf ear.

@kengawo and @oisehumen. This report did not say Nigeria WILL have demographic disaster but is says and i quote NIGERIA could become the fifth most populous country in the world, teetering on the edge of a “demographic disaster” unless its stagnant economy rapidly

expands to support its teeming youth population. Please, kindly take note of words written in bold font



@ Ayo:God bless you. 1 thing i have learnt on nairaland is that the average Nigerian hardly thinks for himself but is too quick to jump on the bandwagon of popular opinion,don't know if its the fear of being the odd one out.

i agree, but all those things are coming cause too many in the nigerian population are DISENFRANCHISED, not cause too many nigerians exist. Our population is disenfranchising a lot of our population because there's too little for too many, but i say there's no population problem because we haven't utilized 20% of our potential


@ ikengawo: as long as your resources, tapped or untapped, falls far short in comparison to your population you do have a tendency for a demographic disaster. av you taken the time to realize that the more you put forward your 'enlightened' arguments against the poster the more it is in agreement with it?

In the final analysis it shouldn't be about where the stats are coming from but it should be bout, is this thing fact? and if it is can we implement policies based on these facts to better the lot of the citizenry? Why waste time with senseless jabberings?

Lets not be like the proverbial ostrich that buries its head in the sand to avoid the storm on the horizon.
God bless Nigeria!

im lovin dis

crap!

Nothing to make noise about

all im reading are conditional statements

If A happens, Z would occur; if A doesnt happen, their is a tendency B would happen

who says our resources wont be optimally utilized say 2020?

Im one of the people who believe the sustainance of our democracy would probably be the catalyst to the kinda devpt we have dreamt of.

all we need is a visionary leader - someone in the mould of saraki and fashola and we'll will be singing another tune

Ive always been of the opinion 9jas population would be to our advantage in SOON