Harnessing demographic dividends for national development

Available evidence showed Nigeria is still far from attaining global targets in the areas of education and health.

Even though the country failed to achieve any of the health and education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets, there is yet another opportunity to re-strategize and put in place necessary framework to meet the new ambitious targets set by the United Nations and described as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Even though enrollment in primary education in developing countries has reached 91 per cent, 57 million children remain out of school. Of this number, more than half of them live in sub-Saharan Africa with Nigeria accounting for a large chunk. Pre-school participation still has a record low gross enrollment ratio in Nigeria with males having 14% and females, 13.8%.

UNAIDS 2016 report revealed that Nigeria had 220,000 new HIV infections and 160,000 AIDS–related deaths. WHO on the other hand reported that malnutrition continues to be a major contributing factor in 45% of deaths in children below 5 years with pregnancy related complications topping the list of causes of maternal mortality in Nigeria leading to the death of 145 women daily.

While government is making efforts to address the myriad of challenges stopping the country from attaining the targets especially health and education, various individuals and organizations engaged in social impact activities in Nigeria and helping to meet these targets do not realize they are inadvertently helping to achieve the Demographic Dividend.

Mrs. Uche Onwuamaegbu  is a social entrepreneur who empowers young people with relevant twenty-first century education and resides in Onitsha, one of Nigeria’s major economic hubs. She is spearheading the introduction of an unusual type of social enterprise, The EduFun STEM Hub.

The Hub is the city’s pioneer center for robotics and coding education targeted at young people including those in hard-to-reach areas.

Uche supervises a coding session in at EduFun STEM hub. Credit – HealthNewsNG.com

Mrs. Uche encountered STEM during an educational conference in Dubai and this changed her perception. She became inspired to start the organization which is now at the forefront of STEM education in schools and rural communities in Anambra state.

Onyinye Edeh is another person of interest. The fellow at Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA) and founder of Strong Enough Girls Empowerment Initiative (SEGEI) moved to Nigeria after her postgraduate studies in the United States. She said the fellowship at the ICWA equipped her with the necessary strategies to approach the various issues facing women and girls across rural locations in Nigeria. She said she got “new vigor and determination to make a difference”.

Her organization, SEGEI now provides quality sexual and reproductive health education to young girls and boys in several rural communities in Nigeria.

Out of school HIV peer sessions organized by SEGEI. Credit – SEGEI

Of significant interest is the case of 15-year old Paul* who lives in Waru village, on the outskirts of Abuja where SEGEI works. He has multiple sex partners and had symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection when the organization met him. The team helped to diagnose the actual infection and is ensuring he gets appropriate care.

To sustain their efforts, SEGEI’s HIV Assistant Program Officer, Linda Raji said they are currently training 100 young people (25 in-school and 25 out of school) in two different rural communities (50 in each) to become peer educators.

“The purpose of the training is to equip the peer educators with necessary skills to talk to a target of 10 peers a month, so that in 6 months, every young person in the community would have heard about the prevention and management of HIV,” Raji said.

With organizations like EduFun STEM Hub and SEGEI, young Nigerians like Paul can now access relevant education and quality sexual and reproductive health information.

While these organizations work hard within the framework of the SDGs to turn the tide against these issues, most times they don’t realize they are also helping to make significant impact on another important macroeconomic concept called the Demographic Dividend.

Investing in ten-year-old girls, specifically in their education and sexual and reproductive health education, can help bring about a demographic dividend through a number of different paths. Credit – UNFPA Nigeria

The Chairman, Nigeria’s Population Commission recently revealed in New York that Nigeria’s population is nearing 200 million and this sparked a lot of reactions from thought leaders. But beyond the numbers, it is important to also have a critical look at the population dynamics.

Over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 30 so the focus of conversations should be on how this group with all their energy can be invested in to harvest Nigeria’s economic potentials. Bearing in mind that they will not remain young forever, it is therefore a once in a lifetime opportunity that should not be missed. This is basically what the Demographic Dividend means – intentionally investing in the large population of young people to ensure they positively transform the country and organizations like EDUFUN and SEGEI are doing this without realizing.

Dr. Ejike Orji, Nigeria Focal Person for FP2020 Global, believes it is not as straight forward as it sounds because other factors come into play. “There needs to be reduction in birth rate, reduction in death rate and reduction in population growth before we can even talk about achieving the Demographic Dividend.

“Demographic Dividend cannot be possible without massive investment in the health and education of young people. And not only informal education but formal and relevant education that will guarantee they get quality jobs after graduation. We only have the next 20 years to take advantage of this unique opportunity or what we refer to as Demographic Dividend will turn to Demographic Doom” he said.

But the need to invest in the education and health of young people goes without saying.

Lowering fertility and changing the population age structure is the first step, but investments in health, education, economic policy, and good governance allow the changing age structure to be transformed into accelerated economic growth.

Shamwil Hassan, the Country Coordinator of African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development believes it’s important to ensure that young people in rural locations are not left behind and to achieve this, “Government and development partners need to collaborate with community-based organizations working at the rural level.”

So, while pushing and waiting for the government to fulfill its constitutional obligations to the citizens, experts believe it is equally important to communicate to individuals, government agencies, the private sector and whoever is working in any area of human capital development especially those targeted at youths, the long-term impact of the work they are doing.

The consensus is that it will inspire them to keep pushing and scaling up their activities for more sustained impact and eventual attainment of the Demographic Dividend.

 

*Real name was changed for privacy concerns
|This piece was supported by the Africa Science Desk project of the African Academy of Sciences with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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