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President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, underscored the need for urgent measures to address Nigeria’s high fertility rate, through expanding access to modern contraceptive methods across the country.

The President spoke at the launch of the Revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development.

He also inaugurated the National Council on Population Management (NCPM), chaired by him, and the Vice President as the deputy chairman with Heads of relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as members.

President Buhari, while speaking on the country’s revised population policy, said its overall goal was to improve the quality of life and standards of living of all Nigerians, which remained one of the major aspirations of this government.

“The policy emphasizes the urgency to address Nigeria’s sustained high fertility rate, through expanding access to modern family planning, counseling, and commodities as well as promote births spacing.

“This will enable Nigeria to achieve rapid fertility control, improve the health of women, adolescents, newborns and children, and other population groups,” he said.

Buhari said Nigeria’s population, the largest in Africa, seventh globally, and among the few whose fertility is still growing, was hinged on a youthful population, with more than 72 percent of them being below 30 years while half of the female population are in their reproductive years (15-49 years).

The President, while commenting on other highlights of the revised population policy, said it stressed the importance of investing in the quality education of young people (particularly girls), human capital development, advancing the holistic effort to achieve the significant demographic transition.

President Buhari, while noting that the implementation of the policy would require credible, reliable, timely, robust, geo-referenced, and well-disaggregated data, expressed confidence that the data generated from the forthcoming census would provide all the information needed for the successful implementation of the new policy.

Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Hon. Nasir Isa Kwara urged Nigerians to embrace the noble ideals of Planned Parenthood and healthy reproductive behaviours enunciated in the policy.

On the NCPM, the NPC Chairman said the body is key in the implementation of the revised Policy, saying ‘’in addition to providing strategic direction in the implementation process, the Council will hopefully advocate for and support the conduct of the population and housing census, thus providing accurate and up-to-date data to guide the implementation of the Policy.”

In his goodwill message, the UN Resident Coordinator, Nigeria, Matthias Schmale expressed confidence that the Policy launched by President Buhari was bound to be successful for several reasons.

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Schmale said the world and UN looked forward to a Nigeria with low maternal mortality; low teenage pregnancy and childbirth; reduced fertility rate, increased utilization of modern contraceptive methods, and high educational attainment, among others.

He promised that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is responsible for providing support for the generation of quality data, will continue to work with the NPC to help ensure that Nigeria’s forthcoming census meets local and international standards and acceptability.