Stemming the tide of population upshot

 

ACCORDING to the US Census Bureau there is one birth every 8 seconds, one death every 12 seconds, one international migrant (net) every 33 seconds, and a net gain of one person every 12 seconds in the United States.

On a general note, population growth is described as the average annual percent change in the population, resulting from a surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a country. It notes that the rate may be positive or negative.

However, this growth rate is a factor in determining how great a burden would be imposed on a country by the changing needs of its people for infrastructure -e.g. schools, hospitals, housing, roads as well as other resources such as food, water, electricity and jobs. On a larger scale, rapid population growth is seen as threatening by many countries.

In the Nigerian instance, the index mundi on the Nigerian Population Growth Rate gives the nation’s rate at an estimation of 2.44percent by 2016. As of today, August 2^nd 2017, Nigeria’s current overall population was pegged at 192, 274, 975 based on the latest United Nations estimates.

This means, my nation ranks equivalent to 2.55percent of the total world population and number 7 in the list of countries and dependencies) by population, and still counting.

And for a country with a population forecast of 206,830,983 by the Year 2020, that is, just about three years away; still burdened with a continuously updated estimate of the current population, all hands need to be on deck to stem the tide.

Stemming the tide? Does that mean men and women shouldn’t get married again? Of course, not. It simply means that we need a saner and better moralised society.

Starting with you and I, your brother and sister, father and mother, government and the governed and all strata of the Nigerian society to be better enlightened and work at what we all can do to help our society.

Hence,

·         Nigeria must document the number of unmarried young men and women in the country

·         Our leaders need to have grips on the rising trend of illegal marriages, polygamy, bigamy and scores of teenage pregnancies.

·         Number of children born out of wedlock should be curbed …and

·         We all must do everything possible within our respective means to ensure that our beloved country, Nigeria, does not further exceed her already exceeded the carrying capacity.

We’ll continue tomorrow. Thank you for reading me.

I remain professionally yours,

By the way, my name is
Joke Kujenya
a.k.a. JK
Investigative Journalist, Social Media Enthusiast, Mentor, Trainer & Blogger
<journalistjoke@gmail.com>