Population growth in a nation can be the major source of the needed national economic strength or it can become an easy avenue for the massive social problems, economic crises and a failing state in the making. Nigeria's population stands at 169 million persons in 2012 at an annual population growth rate of about 4%. By 2050, the Nigeria's population is expected to hit 400 million persons and this population figure will make her to become one of the five most populous countries in the world at that time. My biggest personal concern about this rapidly growing and unchecked population is the fact that jobs, national infrastructures, social services, housing, health care facilities and the nation's GDP are not also growing at an equally comparable rate or at a faster rate like her population growth rate does.
Nigeria is totally an oil dependent nation. The oil in Nigeria remains the only major and the primary source of her foreign revenues as a nation. International oil experts have recently estimated that the Nigeria's oil reserves that are yet untapped are about 38 billion barrels (both the offshore and the onshore combined together) and these oil reserves will be fully tapped out or fully exploited in the next 40 years at the current daily rate of oil her production that stands at 2.8 million barrels a day. The over $700 billion that was already made in the last 40 years of Nigeria's oil production and sales were either stolen by the Nigeria's current and successive leaders and her top government officials or were wasted on the various white elephant projects that do not benefit the tens of millions of the ordinary Nigerians.
The future of Nigerian as a nation in this 21st century human universe without this daily oil production and in the midst of this rapidly growing and unchecked population explosion remains very bleak for now. What lies ahead of Nigeria as a nation facing unchecked population explosion for now is in the direct hand and control of time and time only.
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