Population Explosion in Nigeria: A Disaster or a Gift

Today, it is estimated that Nigeria has a population of about 200 Million with a current birth rate of 36.855 births per 1000 people, a 1.11% decline from 2020. This population increase put Nigeria as the most populous black nation in the world and the 7^th largest population in the world with a land mass of 923,768 km². The nation is blessed with an enormous deposit of natural resources as well and human resource but the State is presently being faced with corruption, unemployment, insecurity, poverty, foreign debts amongst others. It is worth of note that Nigeria is the 15^th largest producer of crude oil in the world with a production of 1,938,543 barrel a day. Crude oil is just one of the numerous natural deposit in Nigeria. The nation has an enormous quantity of natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc and of course, arable land but still it is plagued with an overwhelming level of poverty with more than 100 million Nigerians living below 1 dollar.

Various schools of thought have emerged as to the usefulness of Nigeria’s population as some schools of thought believed Nigeria’s population is a blessing while some believe it’s a disaster that will continue to keep the country in a state of comatose.

According to one of the foremost population theorists, Rev. Thomas Malthus, the Malthusianism believes that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which will eventually reduce living standards to the point of triggering a population die off. The theory believes that there needs to be preventive and positive checks in order to bring the population and resource to an equilibrium. This theory has not been implemented in Nigeria (and surely will not be due to the myriad of cultural and religious difference domiciled in the country) so it “benefits” cannot be felt.

Nigeria has been one of the most hit in recent times in the medical fields. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 756,000 children die of malaria every year. Thousands of lives are lost to other sickness and illnesses. The level of unemployment in Nigeria is also very high as it is believed that 600,000 graduates are produced every year with no means of securing a job. Presently, it is said that Nigeria has a total of 39 million employable youths that are currently unemployed. This disaster has led to the increase in so many social crimes such as corruption, cybercrime, thuggery etc. Without mincing words, Nigeria is faced with so many societal, economic and medical issues bedeviling her.

On an opposite look, Nigeria has a very high number of practitioners and specialists in various field ranging from engineering, medicine, technology, social and behavioural sciences amongst others. In the United States of America, Nigerians doctors constitutes the largest number of professionals living and working in the US. They are also seen in the numbers in other European and Asian countries all over the world including some African countries. In the technology sphere, Nigerians are doing wonders all over the world, creating landmarks and making indelible achievements. Nigerians in the diaspora also contribute an enormous amount of economic drive to the nation’s economy as they contribute about 25 Billion Dollars every year to drive home economic invements.

These present position has made the theory of Nigerians population explosion to be confusing as the means of tackling the challenges and also enjoying the “problem” cannot be effectively handled by the various arms of governments.  

And that is why I am open to suggestions as to what can be done to address this issue.

Thank you.

Joseph Miracle Abu

Eco Generation Ambassador (Nigeria)