Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has raised alarm of Nigeria’s population becoming a big issue in 2050 if things are not done rightly now.
Speaking at a mentoring session with students of some selected schools across the country dubbed “raising the next wave of innovative leaders through entrepreneurship”.in Ogun state on Sunday June 27, the former President called for population management to ensure we have a population that won’t become a liability.
According to him, the populace should be equipped with education on family planning and ways the population can be controlled before it gets out of hand. He opined that per Nigeria’s geometric population growth, the country might be declared the third-largest country in 2050.
Obasanjo said “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 will be the largest country in the world. Now, what are we going to do to handle the situation? How are we going to handle that population?
“If we don’t start getting it right now, we will not get it right by 2050. But population by itself may not be a liability if we do what we have to do. But if we don’t do what we have to do – which we are not doing now – the population will become a liability.
“We should educate ourselves about population management. Some people don’t like family planning and all that, but whatever you do, you must manage your population for the benefit of all that is within your nation.”
