Interpreting Population Policy in Nigeria

This chapter focuses on population policy in Nigeria, beginning with the first Nigerian national population policy, introduced in 1988 as the “Four is Enough” campaign, and ending with the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning initiative. While the 1988 policy led to increased availability of contraceptives, women’s groups complained about the policy’s focus on women’s fertility and its failure to incorporate reproductive health into its purview. Others criticized the emphasis on contraceptives when free primary healthcare was curtailed as part of the national structural adjustment program in 1986. This disconnect between the government population policy and local concerns has contributed to continuing high levels of fertility. Without sufficient health services to reduce maternal and infant mortality or government provision of electricity and water to improve living standards, population policies remain irrelevant when having many children is a means of offsetting the uncertainties of everyday life in Nigeria.