Wusu Onipede, a professor of sociology has advocated for birth control and planned reproduction among Nigerians irrespective of individual income to check the rising poverty, socio-economic challenges, and for individual wellbeing and advancement.
Wusu stated this while presenting the 77th inaugural lecture of the Lagos State University (LASU) titled “Gift of nature: The soft underbelly of wellbeing in society”.
The professor revealed that there was a correlation between high population and poverty, revealing that countries, where sex and reproduction is properly managed, have a low natural rate of population growth with resultant high per capita income and life expectancy.
Wusu said research indicates that higher contraceptive use in South-East Nigeria was associated with a better level of economic wellbeing, freeing resources for investment in health and education and consequently paving the way for individuals to break out of the poverty web and promote welling.
He further stated that married men who reported current use of modern contraceptive behaviour were more likely to report good or better quality of life than their counterparts who did not use modern contraceptives.
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According to him, “The effects are in various ways for instance; if you have individuals having reproductive behaviour they cannot manage, frequent pregnancy and childbirth and many children, you may not have anything to save, if you cannot save, you cannot improve your economic status.
“And if you don’t have anything to save as an individual, you cannot contribute to national saving. It is national saving that would promote domestic saving. When you have domestic savings promoted you have a domestic capital base built from within and then you can invest that and if you properly invest you can have employment generation in that way we can promote wealth.
“Meaning, where people have many children they can’t care for, the result is often many social miscreants responsible for social challenges, disorder”.
Wusu, who is presently the 2nd vice president of the Population Association of Nigeria, further stated that despite its high population, China with a current population figure has 0.3 percent population growth rate per year, compared to Nigeria with its population growing alarmingly at 2.5 per cent.
He revealed that sexual behaviour among young Nigerians was pervasive, with research conducted at University of Lagos (UNILAG) and LASU showing that female lost their virginity at 19.3 years and their male counterpart was 18 years, while ‘Aristo’ had also become pervasive among young females who were lured into the act because of the inherent benefits.
Although scholars have said that in several societies across the world the ratio of men and women who are ready and available for relationship and marriage may not be proportionate.
According to them, recent research indicates that sexual life of young people in the 21st century may be low compared to incidence in the 80s.
