Jonathan to send birth control bill to National Assembly

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said he may soon send a bill to the National Assembly on a birth control. Speaking at the inauguration of Chairman and Commissioners of the National Population Commission (NPC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Jonathan urged that religious belief should not frustrate the policy. Former Managing Director of Nigeria Brewery PLC, Chief Festus Odumegwu, was inaugurated as Chairman of the Commission and 22 out of 23 appointed Commissioners took the oath of Office and oath of Allegiance. The President noted that Nigeria would not be the first country
to make a law on birth control, adding that the issue of population regulation is very sensitive. He said government cannot fold its arms until the country’s population becomes uncontrollable. The President assured that government would carry out enough sensitisation before making the law controlling birth and population. He also directed the NPC team to begin advocacy on birth control and promised government support and funding. His words, “For us to plan properly, we must manage our population, but it is extremely sensitive, we are extremely religious people, either you are a Christian or Moslem. “Both Christians and Moslems and even traditionalists believe that children are God’s gifts to man, so it is difficult for you to tell any Nigerian to limit the number of their children because they are gifts of God. “It is a very sensitive thing but we must begin to think about it. We must begin to think about how we manage it “The key thing is that how you will through your advocacy come up with plans and programmes that as a way of advocacy you begin to encourage Nigerians to have the number of children they can manage before government comes up with clear policies and guidelines. “First and foremost is the personal consciousness that people should get the family they can manage. “Sometimes you get to somebody’s house living in a well furnished duplex. The husband and wife there may have two, three four children. The maiguard guiding them have nine children. That is the scenario you have. “That means there is a segment of the population that knows that you must get a number that you can manage but the other segment of the population don’t. “If you are use to military barracks you see that the officers, General this, Major General this, Brigadier this, Colonel this have three, five children but those that have no rank have eight, twelve. “This is the scenario. The people up, probably because of their level of education know that they must control their population, but the people down, because of the level of exposure and education are still not aware that you must control your population. “So first and foremost, before government comes up with regulations, guidelines or laws, Nigerians must be made to know that we cannot continue to procreate and procreate even though we know children are God’s gifts’’.
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