Thread by @toluogunlesi

Nigeria needs to slow down its population growth. It will take years to see the impact, but have we even started? How can societal influencers - religious leaders, market leaders, musicians, actors, etc - be co-opted into this campaign? And will they be effective?

I doubt that the State imposing or trying to enforce a limit is an option for us, or for any democratic set-up. Will likely backfire in multiple ways. The best and most feasible way for us will be to nudge and cajole and influence. And we must start like yesterday.

I’m aware of course that it’s beyond just an enlightenment or influencer campaign. Steps like empowering women educationally and financially will go a very long way towards giving them greater agency re birth numbers / family sizes.

A tweet just reminded me of this 1991 Nigerian ‘family-planning’ classic, sponsored by the Nigeria Family Health Services (FHS) project (an FGN-USAID project) and @JohnsHopkins:

[I wonder if there was ever an evaluation of messaging effectiveness].

My search for that video also threw this 1997 article up: “Fusing the lively sounds of Nigerian pop music with lyrics on development issues has gone a long way in bringing about awareness on family planning & the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS).” ipsnews.net/1997/01/music-…