Tag: Nigerian news

Nigeria’s population is growing at a scary rate and experts say it is having a significant effect on the environment. Ugandan journalist Shifa Mwesigye, in this special report for The Nation, examines this challenge and suggests the way out.

At 11 am, Elizabeth heads out into the hills where she meets her friends from the neighbourhood. They descend onto the forest in their village of Burak in Shongom, Gombe State to cut down trees and collect firewood for preparing meals for their families. Here they meet tens of other women and children collecting firewood.

When Elizabeth’s mother was her age 20 years ago, the forest was sprouting down the hills and neighbouring their farm. They didn’t have to move long distances to collect firewood. Today, Elizabeth has to walk at least 4 kilometres to collect the firewood because the forest has been destroyed so much and the bare land turned into agricultural and settlement zones.

The demand for fuelwood in Shongom has grown because according to the state’s website, the population in Gombe State increased from 158,339 in 1990 to 2.8 million people by 2015, increasing demand for cooking energy. Secondly, businessmen cut down trees and transport them to the cities where it is used as fuelwood, timber for making furniture and building houses for the ever-increasing population that requires housing.

“In this area, the demand for fuelwood outstrips supply and hence, the risk of deforestation in this part of the country expands at the rate of 1 kilometre per year, which has brought about irreversible damage to the environment,” states Ibrahim Yahaya a researcher at Gombe State University.

The increasing population of Nigeria, which stands at 200 million people today, is eating up its environment and biodiversity – everything that provides food, energy, medicines, genetic resources and a variety of materials fundamental for people’s physical well-being and for maintaining culture. While the Nigerian government continues to bank its hopes on oil revenues for supporting human and economic development, a large unchecked population will be detrimental to these hopes.

To stop this man-made environmental destruction and loss of resources much depends on scaling up the use of contraceptives to meet the targeted contraceptive prevalence rate of 36 per cent and reduce the population growth. If not, it will be difficult, even with higher oil prices, to make major gains in living standards for the poorest of the poor if other natural resources which people depend on are depleted.

“There is a false belief that economic development is the panacea for sustaining an ever-increasing population,” says Professor Dolapo Lufadeju, coordinator of Rotarian Action Group for Population and Development. “Persistently high fertility in developing countries like Nigeria, if not checked, will outpace available renewable and non-renewable resources leaving people at risk of hunger and water scarcity.” Dolapo is convinced: “Nigeria must invest in a robust family planning campaign and make contraceptives available to women who want to limit or stop having children to reverse this pressure on the environment.”

Robert Walker, the president of the Population Institute says the promotion of voluntary family planning services represents a valuable and cost-efficient opportunity for Nigeria. With a population of 200 million which is projected to reach 411 million by 2050, if all family planning needs were met, population growth could be expected to decline considerably.

The extent of the problem

The geographical area of Nigeria is by nature limited to 923,768 sq. km which represents a fixed factor. Yet the population is increasing to occupy and exploit this fixed factor. The growing population and its activities are slowly destroying the very environment that supports human life. A rapidly growing population not only increases pressure on marginal lands, over-exploitation of soils, overgrazing, over cutting of woods, soil erosion, silting, flooding; but also increases excessive use of pesticide fertilisers causing land degradation and water pollution. The effects include deforestation, desertification, wildland fires, and loss of biodiversity, land and air pollution, climate change, sea-level rise and ozone depletion.

According to Okafor Samuel Okechi, a researcher with the University of Nigeria, the country’s temperature mean increase from 1901-2005 was 1.1°C while the global temperature in the same time rose “only” 0.74°C. This was accounted for by the level of deforestation in the country which had been attributed with the 87 per cent of the total carbon emission of the country.

Compare this loss to the 550 million hectare Amazon Rain Forest. Also referred to as the Lungs of the Earth, it sucks up about 90 billion tons of carbon dioxide while releasing oxygen needed by humans. The current wildfires which are set by humans either intentionally or accidentally are just part of the deforestation eating up the Amazon. Farmers and cattle grazers are encroaching on it too. In just six months this year, the Amazon has lost 344,468 hectares of its forest cover to human activity according to Washington Post.

In 1990, Nigeria had a population of 95 million people. By 2000, the population had increased to 122 million people and today it stands at 200 million. Currently, Nigeria accounts for 2.35 per cent of the world population with every 43rd person calling himself a Nigerian anywhere in the world. So in the last 28 years, the population of Nigeria has more than doubled, creating a huge demand for land for agriculture, fuelwood, water and housing – all of which are harnessed from the environment. This threatens the country’s rich diversity of forests and wildlife, including at least 899 species of birds, 274 mammals, 154 reptiles, 53 amphibians, and 4,715 species of higher plants.

The predominantly rural population in Nigeria depends mainly on fuelwood to meet basic energy needs for cooking and heating. According to statistics from FAO, Nigeria produces about 1 million tons of charcoal annually of which 80 per cent is consumed in the cities. Fuelwood and charcoal account for about 50 per cent of the national primary energy consumption.

In Africa, fuelwood accounts for over 80 per cent of primary energy needs. FAO further reveals that over 50 per cent of all wood produced in the world is used for energy. Importantly, 85 per cent of all wood fuel is collected by women and girls.

Nigeria also faces a multitude of climate-related threats. Drought in the North and flooding in the South could severely affect food production while rising seas could displace millions of people living along the coast or in the Niger Delta. Climate change could also increase the number of refugees fleeing to Nigeria from the Sahel.

Family planning as a cost-effective solution

Conservationists consider renewable energy, public transport and lower consumption as the environmental solution. Reforestation can help to curtail soil erosion, revitalise regional watersheds, restore critical bio-habitats for endangered species and help to alleviate water scarcity.

Yet there is no doubt that better access to wider availability of modern contraception provides an important part to a long-time sustainable solution.

Over 150 reproductive health and environment organisations from 170 countries, including Nigeria, have come together to support a global campaign Thriving Together that aims at increasing awareness of the link between environmental conservation and family planning. The organisations in Nigeria supporting this campaign include Rotarian Action Group for Population and Development, Health Reform Foundation Nigeria and SIRP Nigeria. Through engagement in maternal and child health and family planning, RFPD aims to foster improvements in human well-being and dignity, women’s empowerment and a sustainable balance between population and environment.

“Having been engaged in maternal and child health and family planning for a quarter-century, RFPD is looking to now increase collaboration with agencies and organisations in environmental protection and climate activism. The potential synergies between these two fields are clearer than ever. We are delighted to see the amount of progress made in recent years regarding awareness about the relation between population and the environment!” Professor Robert Zinser, RFPD Co-Founder

To improve the situation, RFPD is supporting the government by training doctors, nurses, community health extension workers in the provisions of professional family planning services. Rotarians will train staff in stock management and ensure that contraceptives are transported and stocked in 4000 health care centres in all 36 states and the Federal Capital of Abuja.

“By easing access to contraceptives at the nearest health centre and staffing them with competent, well-trained personnel responsive to clients’ needs, we are not only helping women choose their family size, but this is also a sustainable conservation practice,” RFPD-coordinator Dolapo adds.

Robert Walker, the president of Population Institute says that even if population growth had no impact on the level of greenhouse gas emissions, the case for incorporating family planning into climate change discussions is still compelling. Preventing unintended pregnancies helps women and families adapt to climate change. When families are struggling to survive in the face of drought, flooding or rising seas, smaller families are more likely to survive and, hopefully, thrive.

Population scholars John Bongaarts and Brian C. O’Neill argue that helping women avoid unwanted pregnancies will slow population growth which in turn could reduce global carbon emissions by 40% or more in the long term.

Parties to the dispute over the February 23 presidential election won by President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are to know their fate this week, The Nation learnt on Sunday.

The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) must give judgment in the suits instituted by the parties not later than September 14, as provided in Section 134 (1) to (3) of the Electoral Act, the petitions having been filed on March 18.

Apart from Buhari and the APC, other litigants are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar. They are challenging Buhari’s victory.

Although the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has up to September 14, 2018 as provided in Section Section 134 (1) to (3) of the Electoral Act, the petition having been filed on March 18, 2019, the verdict may be delivered on Friday, September 14 being Saturday.

A reliable source told our correspondent: “We are aware that the court is working towards September 13, 2019 for the judgment.

Read Also: Presidency tackles ex-Vice President Atiku over Obasanjo

“You know they (the court) have up to September 14, by virtue of the provision of the Electoral Act, the petition having been filed on March 18 this year.

“So, we are comfortable with the date, because it is still within time. It will afford the petitioners the time to work on their appeal.”

The PEPC, sitting in Abuja, last sat on August 21, 2019 and adjourned for judgment after entertaining final submissions from lawyers to parties.

Presiding Justice Mohammed Garba, announced, while adjourning proceedings on August 21, that parties would be notified when the court decides on a date for judgment.

Some lawyers to parties in the case said they were yet to be informed by the court about a date for judgment.

“My friend, we have not heard from the court. You know we were last there on August 21 for the final adoption, following which the court adjourned for judgment and promised to inform parties.

“As I speak, we are yet to be informed. I don’t know if others ave been sent hearing notice. But we are yet to receive any,” a senior lawyer to one of the parties said.

The petitoners’ legal team had last week written the PEPC and prayed that it, among other things, promptly deliver its judgment in their petition.

While making their final submissions on August 21, Buhari and the APC, the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC),  who are respondents to the petition,  noted that the petitioners failed to disprove the claim that Atiku is not a Nigerian by birth and as such was not qualified to contest the election.

Buhari, APC and INEC described the petition by Atiku and the PDP, challenging the outcome of the election as worthless and time-wasting. They noted that the petitioner, in prosecuting the petition, starved it of necessary evidence and urged the court to dismiss it with substantial cost.