By Timothy Agbor, Osogbo
The Chief Whip of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Tunde Olatunji, has expressed concern over rising population in the country, saying that the Federal Government should evolve a credible population control mechanism.
Olatunji spoke recently in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
The state lawmaker said the situation at the family level in the country revealed that some houses were overcrowded than prison custodies.
Olatunji said gone were the days when larger population was strength, lamenting that the nation was currently wallowing in poverty, underdevelopment and economic predicament as the percentage of human beings in Nigeria had become higher than that of the human capital.
He said that the citizens should embrace family planning in line with Federal Government’s National Population Control policy for the overall good of the country.
He noted that most parents give birth to children they could not cater for, saying that a large percentage of youths involved in crime today were from broken homes with fragmented family structures and deficient parenting.
Bemoaning the rate of thuggery in the country, the assembly’s chief whip said this was a reflection of the dysfunctional system being worsened by loss of value system and fragmented family setting.
He said, “What fuels thuggery fuels armed robbery and other vices. This is a reflection of the dysfunctionality of the system over the years. Today is a reflection of how we lived our lives years back. It is high time we restored our value system.
“I have been involved in prison intervention programmes; I reunited prison inmates with their families through payment of fines and I discover that these vices started from homes. The number of broken homes is alarming, coupled with irresponsible parenting. Abject poverty is inescapable.
When your liabilities exceed your assets, abject poverty is not negotiable. I have visited a lot of homes and it will shock you to find out that some houses are overcrowded than our prisons. This is what overpopulation is causing.
“Array of our socio-economic challenges, which presently threaten our survival as a nation, emanate from the fragmented family setting in Nigeria, where quality parenting is obviously absent. I make bold to say that over 80 per cent of young people in crime are either from broken homes or fragmented families. That is a serious factor that continues to aggravate our national security challenges and thereby threaten our corporate entity.
The lawmaker further said, “This issue must be tackled holistically by addressing the menace of lopsided family structure as a way of finding lasting solution to our socio-economic challenges.
“A constant increase in the population of a country like Nigeria is a big disadvantage to us if it continues to rise only in figure and not in human capital. Population is no longer strength to the growth of a nation. In Nigeria, the percentage of human beings is higher than the percentage of human capital. Human capital drives the economy of the nation.
“It is only a corresponding increase in human capital in a country with population explosion that can bring about favourable economic condition through increase in productivity.
“Our population growth is giving headache, not only to Nigeria, but to international communities. There are legislative frameworks in place to correct this. The Federal Government should come up with national programmes and advocacy on how to restore values and control population growth.”
