AFRICA'S POPULATION GROWTH

HE, Mohammed Bin Maktoum, the leader of Dubai was on an interview and was questioned as to why he was in a hurry to make his country great, and his reply was, “MY PEOPLE need the best of EVERYTHING NOW. It is no doubt that wherever premium is placed on the people, there it unprecedented progress as seen in that country as others alike.

The importance of people cannot be overemphasized whether to an individual, to an organization or a country. It is said that people are the most valuable asset ever; they are the ''instrument'' to getting anything done. Hence, great care must be employed in handling them.
People can either be a blessing or a burden contingent upon the management parameters laid out to superintend them. These parameters do not just happen, neither are they wished into place, they are deliberately set up and worked into place.

The UN Population Fund stated in 2009 that the population of Africa had hit the one billion mark and had therefore doubled in size over the course of 27 years. Africa is the second-largest and second most populous continent on earth and home to 54 recognized sovereign states and countries, 9 territories and 2 de facto independent states with very little recognition, with an estimated population in 2013 of 1.033 billion people. As of 2015, the population estimates are around 1.166 billion. And this population is set to double by the year 2050, and yet by the end of the century, size up the population of India and China combined. Wow! This is amazing.

African countries are all growing fast... because there is a large number of women who have no access to planning their families or the requisite knowledge. "It's an African phenomenon of a large growing population and a large percentage of young people in the population." While population growth is relatively low in some areas, countries such as Nigeria and Uganda are increasing at an advanced rate. In most countries in the continent, the population growth is in excess of 2% every year.

For the youth to form a larger portion of the population is blessing enough for any people. As this is where, the wheel of the country/continent lie, the powerhouse of the people. Fresh ideas are born from this group and they possess the strength to work them out. But, when this set are not well catered to in terms of Education, Health, Infrastructure, Jobs, power, Entrepreneurial encouragement and so on, then there are serious issues that will cost the country its future. As thousands of youths die in the Mediterranean sea in a search of greener pastures yet our leaders play dumb to these very issues.

One cannot but wonder what it is precisely that these leaders are doing. What plans do they have in place for the youths, the old, and the growing population?

Just the other day, a few FEDERAL GOVERNMENT colleges were shown in their state far beyond deplorable in every area and by every standard. They are in such a state that the dogs of the elites will die if they dare to stay a day in them. And the students (between the ages of 12 and 16) of these schools staged a protest. I bled on the inside with disgust and pity as to the kinds of leaders these young ones would grow up to become if they have to fight- stage a protest to request for something as basic as education in their own home country. It is no wonder that more than half the population in Nigeria in particular are uneducated and live below $1 , that is by all standard abject poverty.

This is to mention but a few of the ill practices around the continent where corruption is ravaging its people faster than anything else. It is a case of our leaders not caring about the fact that the citizens have lost faith in them and are seeking refuge in other peoples’ country – by all means. This does not only leave the people vulnerable, it paints the home country in a bad light, because a distressed and disturbed people will do almost everything possible to get what they want, including the despicably illegal.

The fields of Africa can provide more than enough to cater to its rising populace. There is fund enough to build the best of schools, hospitals, roads and more as is obtainable anywhere else in the world. But what is obtainable is food being imported on a massive scale, and in some countries, shortage o food. The elites flying out with taxpayers money abroad for medical attention and their wards studying abroad. Vacationing in the most expensive places, owning properties in almost all parts of the world, investing in other countries whereas their own lands lie fallow and the bulk of the people die in poverty.

We must begin to change our mindset towards our own people and our land.
We must begin to cultivate the right attitudes for best practices.

We must begin right about now to plan and work for the best.