NIGERIAN NATIONAL POPULATION PLOICY 2006; A LOOK AT THE GENDER ISSUSES

THE GENDER ISSUES IN THE 2006 NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY

The 2006 reviewed National Policy on population and sustainable development was designed to improve the life of people, promote maternal, child and reproductive and achieve a lower population growth through the reduction of birth rates by voluntary regulatory methods compatible with the National policy, to achieve even distribution of population between the rural and urban areas, prevent the causes and spread of HIV/AIDS pandemics and address the problem of internal migration spatial distribution of population.

The National Population policy considered

·         The status of the Nigerian Woman is lower than that of the man. That predominant cultural practice determines the low status of women beginning from childhood, which the girl child is not given equal opportunity even in schooling.

·         High rates of maternal morbidity and mortality which are caused by lack of decision making by women, lack of reproductive Health knowledge, poverty, denial of reproductive health services with the inclusion of other harmful cultural practices against the women like Female Genital Cutting, gender based violence widow rites etc.

·         Gender  stereo type; women have less proportionately professional in the modern sector positions, less access to credit and economic resources, lower participation in the political life of a country.

·         That Nigerian men generally regarded as the head of house dominates sexual and reproductive health decision making, have greater say in use of family planning methods, productive resources and property inheritance, in addiction certain male behavior (multi sexual partner, sexual relation with sex workers, polygyny, non use of condom) which can jeopardize the reproductive health of a woman and contribute to transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted disease.

Then followed the guiding principle 8 which is part of the guiding principle which was derived from the programme of action of the International conference on Population and Development and are in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which states thus;

“The government shall pursue all issues relating to gender equality before the law, equity and women empowerment, and the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence and all forms of harmful practices.”

The implementation strategies for the population policy necessarily focused on population related issues while recognizing the country has to address many other related concern to achieve Sustainable Development e.g. Health concerns, Gender Issues, Education, Environment etc.

Gender issues

Complications related to pregnancy and child birth contribute to high morbidity and mortality rates amongst women of child bearing age. These issues have serious impact on the family welfare and at the long run on national development. Concerted efforts are needed to ensure women’s health.

·         Women’s health and safe mother hood shall be promoted to through effective antenatal delivery and postnatal programmes.

·         Health and Nutrition improvement especially for the pregnant women and the nursing mothers through health promotion and programmes.

·         Risk of maternal and prenatal death shall be reduced through improved access to Emergency Obstetric Care.

·         Easy, affordable, effective and accessible methods of family planning shall be provided and promoted to reduce incidence of unwanted pregnancies.

·          Accessible, well staffed well equipped health services at all levels shall be provided.

·         Efforts to collect data on women’s health need shall be intensified.

·         Measures to detect, prevent and manage high risk pregnancies and birth shall be promoted.

·         Curricula of health training institution in the area of emergency obstetric shall be strengthened to enhance the availability of skilled care of service delivery at all levels.

·         Behavioral communication change to discourage unsafe delivery practice and enhance utilization of modern services shall be promoted.

The policy shall also implement strategies in the areas of reproductive and sexual health, family planning and fertility management as well as HIV/AIDS.

THE IMPACT OF NIGERIA’S INCREASING POPULATION ON BOTH WOMEN AND MEN

Increasing population is a condition where the actual numbers of the people in a given demographic area starts to exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. In common language, the term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment.
Overpopulation does not depend only on the size or density of the population, but on the ratio of population to available sustainable resources. It also depends on the way resources are used and distributed throughout the population.
This population growth can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates due to medical advances, from an increase in immigration,  unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely populated areas to be overpopulated, as the area in question may have a meager or non-existent capability to sustain human life (e.g. a desert).
 The resources to be considered when evaluating whether an environment is overpopulated include clean water, clean air, food, shelter, warmth, and other resources necessary to sustain life. If the quality of human life is addressed, there may be additional resources considered, such as medical care, education, proper sewage treatment and waste disposal. Overpopulation places competitive stress on the basic life sustaining resources, leading to a diminished quality of life.
According to 2006 census figure, Nigeria's population stands at approximately 140 Million. The 1991 Population Census in Nigeria puts the population of the country at 88.9 Million people with an annual growth rate of 2.9 % .At this rate, Nigeria is one of the fastest growing populations in the world. Projections based on that growth rate showed that the population was 99.2 Million in 1995 and would be 178 .6 Million in 2015 and 235.6 Million in 2025 (NPC 1998)

Characteristics of an increasing population are:

• High infant and child mortality. High rates of infant mortality are caused by poverty. Rich countries with high population densities have low rates of infant mortality.
• Intensive factory farming to support large populations. It results in human threats including the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria diseases, excessive air and water pollution, and new virus that infect humans.
• Increased chance of the emergence of new epidemics and pandemics. For many environmental and social reasons, including overcrowded living conditions, malnutrition and inadequate, inaccessible, or non-existent health care, the poor are more likely to be exposed to infectious diseases.
• Poverty coupled with inflation in some regions and a resulting low level of capital formation. Poverty and inflation are aggravated by bad government and bad economic policies. Many countries with high population densities have eliminated absolute poverty and keep their inflation rates very low.
• Low life expectancy in countries with fastest growing populations.
• Unhygienic living conditions for many based upon water resource depletion, discharge of raw sewage and solid waste disposal. However, this problem can be reduced with the adoption of sewers.
• Elevated crime rate due to drug cartels and increased theft by people stealing resources to survive.
• Conflict over scarce resources and crowding, leading to increased levels of warfare.
• Less Personal Freedom / More Restrictive Laws. Laws regulate interactions between humans. Law "serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people." The higher the population density, the more frequent such interactions become, and thus there develops a need for more laws and/or more restrictive laws to regulate these interactions. It is even speculated that democracy is threatened due to overpopulation, and could give rise to totalitarian style government.

THE IMPACT OF NIGERIA’S INCREASING POPULATION ON WOMEN:

·         Women will continue to die from pregnancy related problems mostly preventable conditions due to dwindling resources, few skilled attendants at birth, decay infrastructure and above all weak health system. Nigeria is recording the highest maternal death after India globally.

·         For obvious reasons, that there are more consumers than producers in the country and the more a woman is pregnant, the more the risk to her health and survival. She is vulnerable to physical injuries such as Vesico Vaginal Fistula, Genital Tear, Uterine Rupture and also severe loss of blood, Prolapse, Pile and Tiredness. Having many children without spacing also exposes the children to less attention and care and sharing of limited resources to cater for large family.

·         High fertility strongly increases a woman's lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes. 210 million women each year suffer life-threatening complications and a further 536,000 die in pregnancy, during childbirth or in the six weeks following delivery.  Many of these deaths could be avoided if women had access to modern family planning and, most importantly, felt sufficiently empowered to insist on its use.

·         Women lack rights, status or the power in the Nigerian society  and therefore there will be fewer spaces for education especially for girls thereby having very few professionally trained women.

·         Due to sanctioned culture, religion and social gender role for Nigerian women the rapid urban growth will create concentration of unemployed youths and that's on its own is a risk factor for civil conflicts, increase sexual activities through prostitutions, sexual harassment, assault, incest and rape. The end result would be, spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV/AIDS, unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortion and adolescent mothers. All these problems will have direct negative effects on the Nigeria's Economy, Quality of Life and Sustainable Development.

·         Many girls aged 15-19 give birth each year, many lacking the social status or power to control their fertility. Many are forced into an early marriage. see the highest rates of adolescent fertility. Girls aged 15-19 from the poorest groups are three times more likely than their better-off peers to give birth in adolescence, and bear twice as many children during their lifetime. They are also 2-5 times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications as women in their 20s, and their babies are less likely to survive as well.

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THE IMPACT OF NIGERIA’S INCREASING POPULATION ON MEN

·         Since men are regarded the superiors in Nigeria, the decision makers and their status predominant according to the cultural practices. They therefore dominate the sexual and reproductive health decisions making, have access to productive resources, property inheritance and use of family planning method.

·         Population growth can increase the risks of political instability and conflict, due to poverty, rapid urbanization, reduced supplies of farmland and water per capita, and pressures on already overstretched infrastructure and services.

·         As a result of increase in population, there is conflict over scarce resource, crowding and high competition over available resources, men are forced to migrate to other countries in search of green pastures.

In conclusion, the link between population growth and poverty is two-way: poverty often leads to higher fertility and population growth, while high fertility and high population rates can entrench poverty. The key is to replace this vicious circle with a virtuous one, where women's rights, and their capacity to exercise choice, alongside access to better healthcare and nutrition, and modern family planning, allow the poorest women to make informed decisions about family spacing and size. When they are able to do so, they consistently make choices that are good for their health and that of their children.

  ORJI IFEOMA AMAKA

ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL POLICY ON HOUSING AND ITS IMPACT ON GENDER

Nigeria’s National Housing Policy was introduced in February 1991 with the goal of

ensuring that every Nigerian owned or had access to decent housing accommodation at affordable cost by 2000.

 By the time that the civilian administration came into office on May 29th 1999, it had become clear that this target would not be achieved as the supply of housing stock had failed to keep up with demand. In addition, given the structure of the Nigerian capital market, access to long-term housing finance had continued to be limited. It was against this background that a Presidential Committee was appointed and charged with drawing up a new National Housing Policy.

 In 2002, the White Paper on the report of the Presidential Committee was released. The expectation is that the white paper will form the basis of the new National Housing Policy.

Its major recommendations are in connection with new institutional frameworks such as the creation of a Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, expansion of

housing stock through greater private sector participation and the restructuring of

the housing finance institutions so as to facilitate access to housing credit.

However, as with the National Housing Policy of 1991, the White Paper fell short of adopting a rights-based approach to housing. This limited scope of housing rights in Nigeria is further amplified in the 1999 Constitution. Admittedly, the Constitution does not employ the expression “adequate housing.” But it provides in s. 16(1) (d), under the Chapter dealing with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, that the State shall ensure that “suitable and adequate shelter” is provided for all citizens.

By virtue of s. 13 of the Constitution, “it shall be the duty and responsibility of all organs of government, and of all authorities and persons, exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers, to conform to, observe and apply the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles.” However, s. 6(6) (c) diminishes the impact of s.13 by expressly stipulating that it does not establish enforceable rights. This contrasts with the constitutional provisions on Fundamental Rights, which though enforceable do not include access to adequate housing or shelter.

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which has the force of

Law in Nigeria by virtue of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

(Ratification and Enforcement) Act,iv does not include provisions on the right to

adequate shelter or housing.

Impact of the Policy Gender

What is also evident is that both the National Housing Policy of 1991 and the

White Paper does not include any gender perspectives. Similarly, the principal legal

Instruments on housing are devoid of gender references but juxtaposed against

this is the fact that the Federal Government has undertaken obligations on housing

and gender rights through its ratification of international treaties such as the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)vii and

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

(CEDAW).viii On account of s. 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution, these international

obligations have no domestic effect until enabling legislation for that purpose has

been introduced. The result is that at present, advancing a gender perspective in

relation to housing must necessarily take into account existing legal protections on

Gender equality rather than specific housing rights provisions.

Furthermore, in the groundbreaking case of Mofekwu v Mofekwu, the Court of

Appeal declared as unconstitutional and repugnant to natural justice and equity, a

practice under Oli-Ekpe custom, which permits the son of the brother of a

deceased person to inherit the property of the deceased to the exclusion of the

deceased’s female children.

It would have been expected that such case would have catalyzed action, including litigation, to establish equality of access to adequate housing in Nigeria but this has not happened for a number of reasons.

·         First, there appears to be a general perception or belief that access to adequate

housing should not be approached from a rights perspective. Indeed, this is borne

out by the treatment of housing in the 1999 Constitution and housing policies and

Laws.

·         Gender mainstreaming has not really been practiced in the development and implementation of relevant policies, laws, budgets and programmes such as the National and States’ Housing Programmes.

·         In the operations of the National Housing Fund and in land administration in

connection with the granting of rights of occupancy and the issue of certificates of

Occupancy under the Land Use Act (LUA) also, implicated are entrenched

Religious beliefs and traditional practices and customs, which perpetuate the

unequal treatment of women with regards to the ownership, management and

control of immovable property.

The Way Forward

Despite the onset of democratic governance in 1999, very little has been achieved

in terms of gender mainstreaming in the housing sector in Nigeria because political

commitment is weak.

As a first step, the Federal Government should fully implement obligations on housing and gender rights in international treaties by introducing enabling legislation. In addition, access rights, for example, access to information and public participation in decision-making need to be recognized and protected.