According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), if the Federal Government of Nigeria does not invest in healthcare and education, approximately 250 million Nigerians will fall into poverty in the coming years.
The revelation was made by Ms Ulla Mueller, UNFPA Country Representative, on Monday in Abuja at a parliamentary summit to accelerate Nigeria’s demographic transition.
According to her, the country’s current imperative is to act, emphasizing that in a world of 8 billion people, in a country that will be the third most populous in a few years, there could be 250 million people who feel a sense of opportunities and possibilities.
She believes that with the wrong investment, there could be 250 million people living in increased poverty and increased insecurity.
The Country Representative said, “We have to record this. To do that without family planning, there’ll be no universal health and demographic transition.”
Nasir Isa Kwarra, Chairman, National Population Commission, believed that it was not automatic harnessing the demographic dividend but requires each nation to meet certain conditions that start with achieving a rapid and speedy fertility decline, holistically to permit sufficient demographic transition for economic transformation to occur.