Obasanjo Laments on Nigeria’s Population
Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has called on Nigerian leaders to begin preparations for and against population explosion.
Obasanjo stated this during a mentoring session with some students of selected schools across the country in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Sunday, tagged “raising the next wave of innovative leaders through entrepreneurship.”
The former president noted that the population of Nigeria is becoming a problem due to improper management, adding that urgent intervention should be made so that the nation will not be declared the third most populous nation in the world.
He stressed that population management must be at the forefront, especially in the face of the geometric population explosion without a corresponding socio-economic development.
Obasanjo noted further that the situation has slowed down development in the nation, and expressed worry over the management of the population of the nation.
According to him, “We have moved from 120 million to over 200 million. We have added the population of France to our population and if we continue the way we are going, by the year 2050 we will be the third-largest country in the world.
“If we continue, by the year 3000, we would be the largest country in the world.
“What are we going to do to handle that, how are we going to handle that population? If we do not start getting it right now, we will not get it right by the year 2050.”
Obasanjo argued that the population could either be an asset or a liability, he noted that if the nation does not make satisfactory plans to avert this, the country will pay for its over-population both now and in the future.
“What we need to do is education about population management. Some people don’t like saying family planning, but whatever you do, you must manage your population to the benefit of all that is living within your nation,” the elder statesman stated.
