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Cultural Diversity and Population Policy in Nigeria
Author(s) -
Obono Oka
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
population and development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.836
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1728-4457
pISSN - 0098-7921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2003.00103.x
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , population , government (linguistics) , ethnic group , action (physics) , fertility , cultural diversity , action plan , population control , economic growth , family planning policy , population growth , birth rate , social policy , political science , development economics , geography , sociology , family planning , economics , demography , law , linguistics , philosophy , physics , management , quantum mechanics , research methodology
Nigeria's ambitious population policy, adopted in 1988, had its origins in the international population and development thinking of the time, set out in documents such as the World Population Plan of Action and the Kilimanjaro Programme of Action. The policy has had at most a modest effect in curbing the country's high fertility. This failure, it is argued, stems from the policy's implicit assumption of a single, monolithic cultural reality and its disregard of male reproductive motivation. Belief systems in Nigeria are extraordinarily diverse in detail but share a common interest in the fertility of crops, livestock, and people. Patterns of social organization are similarly varied. For an effective population policy, the government needs to find ways of incorporating distinct elements of the cultures of the different ethnic groups, leveraging rather than suppressing the country's cultural diversity.