FG tasked on 2030 FP commitment target
As Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark this year’s World Family Planning Day, with the theme: “A world of 8 billion: Towards a resilient future for all – Harnessing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all”, stakeholders working to ensure efficient family planning programmes in Nigeria have urged the Federal government to redouble its efforts towards achieving the Family Planning, FP2030 commitments.
The stakeholders under the auspices of the Africa Health Budget Network, AHBN, recalled that the Federal government had in March 2022 formally launched the 2030 FP commitment in Abuja with eight focus areas.
The FP commitment states that: “By the end of 2030, Nigeria envisions a country where everyone including adolescents, young people, populations affected by crisis and other vulnerable populations are able to make informed choices, have equitable and affordable access to quality family planning and participate as equals in society’s development.”
With the fast growing rate of the global population which currently stands at eight billion and Nigeria’s population which is estimated to be over 200 million, the call for concerted action on the part of the government to achieve the FP 2030 is timely.
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Nigeria’s commitment to allocate 1 percent of its health budget to family planning both at federal and state levels as part of efforts to achieve the FP2030 require concerted efforts and innovative financing so that family planning will be adequately catered for to all those in need of it.
Apart from the recent launch of documents by the federal government, AHBN is worried that there are no tangible efforts by the government to ensure the FP 2030 is achieved so as to put the country’s population under check.
It is even more worrisome that majority of the over 200 million people in Nigeria, 70 per cent of them are under the age of 30.
The group further called on government at all levels to put modalities in place to ensure that the youth in the country are productively engaged through the provision of qualitative education and skill acquisitions so that they can contribute to the socio-economic growth of the country.
In the views of MAYE Convener, Mrs Oyeyemi Pitan: “It is necessary to warn here that the youthful population can be an asset or burden to the country, depending on how the government tackles issues around them.”
Speaking, AHBN Coordinator, Aminu Magashi Garba further called on the government to also make family planning information, commodities and services available and accessible to all, especially those in hard to reach areas, “this will curb teenage pregnancy significantly.”
