Population control motion tears Reps along religious lines

Religious interests took the centre stage on Tuesday as members of the House of Representatives debated a motion urging the Federal Government to seek measures to control population explosion in the country.
Some lawmakers from the far North hurriedly sought to stop the motion on the excuse that it was against Islamic beliefs.
Many Christian lawmakers held a contrary view, saying that population planning should be fused into the overall national planning in a rapidly growing country like Nigeria.
The motion was moved by a member of the All Progressives Congress from Ondo State, Mr. Babatunde Kolawole.
The session was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, who tried without success to halt the debate from taking a religious dimension.
Part of Kolawole’s motion, which triggered the argument, reads, “A report by US-based Population Reference Bureau, PRB, in its 2011 World Population Data Sheet, released last year, states that Nigeria’s population would be 433 million by 2050, subsequently making  Nigeria the 3rd largest country in the world by 2050.
“The implication of this is that Nigeria would be the third largest country in the world, behind India and China, even bigger than the United States of America (USA) and with only 10 per cent of the land mass.”
The lawmaker claimed that around 5million people were added to Nigeria’s population every year.
“The unbridled population growth rate puts pressure on the country’s finances and infrastructure, especially roads, housing, education, health, economy and it is a catalyst for unemployment, crime, poverty among others”, Kolawole stated.
He suggested that government should urgently come up with a population control policy, while the National Orientation Agency should begin immediate sensitisation programmes on the importance of family planning.