The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, on Tuesday drew attention to the dangers of uncontrolled population growth on the economy and emphasised the need to generate national support for measures that could help moderate the rapid rate of population growth in the country.
Senator Udoma who chaired the session on “Sustainable Development” at the 58th Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Bar Association holding in Abuja, said that current estimates suggested that more than four million people were being added to the country’s population every year.
Pointing out that the figure was comparable to the population of many large cities or those of small African countries, the minister stressed that if the country was to fully achieve the objectives of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which is to invest in the Nigerian people; expand social inclusion; create jobs and develop human capital, then it had become imperative that new ways to better manage the rate of population growth be fashioned out.
Citing the China example, the minister said managing population growth was an important part of any strategy to achieve sustainable economic development.
He mentioned that his ministry, working with the Health Ministry, had been given the responsibility by Strategy 46 of the ERGP to develop policies to help manage the country’s rate of population growth.
“Let me say, so that I am not mis-understood, that I am not suggesting that we consider taking measures as drastic as the ones China implemented. But it is important to sensitize Nigerians that we will have to find ways to better manage our rate of population growth if we are to fully achieve the objectives of the ERGP, which is to create the Nigeria of our dreams where extreme poverty is virtually abolished,” he explained.
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The minister emphasised that when the ERGP is fully implemented “we should achieve a GDP growth rate of at least 7%.”
He indicated that at the heart of the plan “is the need to build a globally competitive economy and a nation where we grow what we eat, consume what we make and use what we produce.”
Reiterating the key execution priorities, the minister said the plan was focused on ensuring macroeconomic stability; expanding agricultural production so as to achieve food security; investing in transportation infrastructure; ensuring energy sufficiency, particularly in power and petroleum products; and driving industrialization, particularly through SMEs.
He said “it is most encouraging to note that, though as a 4 year Plan, the ERGP is still in its early period of implementation, some early successes have already been achieved.”
He mentioned the exit from recession and the growth of the non-oil sector which, according to the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) 2nd Quarter GDP numbers, grew by 2.05%.
“This is the strongest growth we have seen in the non-oil sector since we emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2017. Indeed, it is the strongest growth in this sector since 2015,” the minister pointed out.
