Africa: Citizens are The Ultimate Resource, Not An Economic Burden

10 September 2010
Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (Lagos)
analysis

A recent government- sponsored report warns that Nigeria is teetering on the edge of a demographic disaster as its annual population rate out-paces economic growth. The report estimates that by 2050, Nigeria’s population would hit 213 million upsetting all the indicators of economic growth that naturally follow with an optimum population.

But is it really true that an increase in population retards economic growth? It seems the argument, though an old and discredited one is the official excuse from the real barriers to Nigeria’s economic growth. The pattern of population growth in Nigeria in the last two decades does not indicate that an increase in population will necessarily lead to a demographic disaster, much less economic difficulty.

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