DAKAR, Senegal -- Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has sparked intense debate by saying Nigerian families should have only the children they can afford.  In remarks to the newly created National Population Commission Wednesday, the president said it may be time for ”birth control legislation.”

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country with about 162 million people. The United Nations says the population could reach 400 million by 2050.  That's a growth rate of 2.5 percent annually that economists say is unsustainably high for such a densely populated country plagued by poor infrastructure, poverty and unemployment.

The World Bank says a Nigerian woman has, on average, five or six children.  It is not unusual for couples to have as many as 10.

President Goodluck Jonathan has called on Nigerians "to only have the number of children they can manage."  Managing population growth, the president said, is essential to economic planning and the government could adopt policies aimed at curbing rapid population growth and encouraging birth control use.

The president, himself a Christian, said the topic of population control is "sensitive" in Nigeria, where people, he said, are "extremely religious" and children are seen as "God's gift to man."

His comments have sparked religious debate.

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My 1st question is how does one knw the number of kids they can manage..