Nigeria has a population of 160 million people, and the UN estimates it will grow to around 400 million by 2050.
Jonathan called for programmes aimed at encouraging "Nigerians to have the number of children they can manage," and signaled that government policies could be adopted in the future. "For us to plan properly, we must manage our population, but it is extremely sensitive," Jonathan said in Abuja late Tuesday in an address to the National Population Commission board members.
Nigeria's population is growing 2.5 percent annually, a rate some see as unsustainably high in an already densely populated country sorely lacking infrastructure. "Both Christians and Muslims, and even traditionalist and all the other religions, believe that children are God's gifts to man. So it is difficult for you to tell any Nigerian to number their children because... it is not expected to reject God's gifts." Jonathan said.
The President plans to present this proposition to the floor of the National assembly.
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