The World Population Day is an annual event observed on July 11 of every year. The day seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989.
"Leave no one behind, count everyone" is the theme for World Population Day 2024. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commented, "This year's theme highlights the importance of investing in data collection to understand issues, tailor solutions, and drive progress.
A recent update from October 2023 says the world population is at 8,063,848,386, a 063,848,386 leap from the eight billion projections released in November 2022 by the United Nations World Population Prospects.
The sixth most populous nations in the world are India with its population at 1,428,627,663, China at 1,425,671,352, the United States at 339,996,563, Indonesia at 277,534,122, Pakistan at 240,485,658 and Nigeria at 223,804,632 as of 2022.
Nigeria's population is projected to reach 400 million by 2050, doubling the current estimate, thus a looming demographic nightmare for the country. This rapid population growth is also accompanied by various population issues including but not limited to insecurity, poverty, illiteracy, drug abuse, SGBV, maternal health, etc.
In view of the foraging, the Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA), a non-governmental and non-partisan organization that focuses on promoting Justice and Accountability as strategy for promoting good governance, advocates for the multi-stakeholder approach in addressing the various population issues. This can be achieved by investing in research by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, engendering proactive and sustainable population policy and budgetary lines from local to national, amplifying national voices and local actions via evidence-based advocacy towards sustainable population in Nigeria, sensitizing general public through strategic media engagement, amplifying Nigerians’ voices towards lasting demographic accountability, and devising sustainable and suitable positive population solutions by Nigerians for Nigerians.
CAJA is committed to partnering with all stakeholders in addressing the population issues and achieving a sustainable population in Nigeria.
Signed
Kabiru Saidu Dakata,
Executive Director, CAJA.
