Sometime last month, when I went to my boss's house, we returned together because he was heading my way and insisted on dropping me off. We passed a man who happened to be his secondary school mate. As we passed him, my boss began to tell me about the man's life. When he mentioned that the man has nine children and his wife is currently pregnant, the only question that came to my mind was, "Is he working in an oil company earning up to $1,000 a month?"
My boss laughed and said the man had no major job, other than running a very small pumpkin farm. I couldn't believe it, and even today I still find it hard to believe.
Having 9 children in this hard economy and in a city where everything is bought, unlike in a village where people can use firewood to cook to lessen the expenses on cooking gas or get food from the farm, seems impossible. He already has nine children, and his wife is still pregnant with the 10th. I didn't believe that he has no significant income source because how is he providing for such a large family?
This situation highlights the problem of lacking child regulation in a country. Although having laws to regulate childbirth has its downsides, I think it is much better in the era we are currently living in.
I don't know the economic state of other countries, especially the developed ones such as the UK, but in Nigeria, life is hard, and overpopulation is a big contributor to that, alongside the poor state of governance.
The man I mentioned as an example—there's no way he's completely footing the bills and providing welfare for his family. No way! Members of the family must be lacking one thing or the other...or probably eating once in a day in some days.
This will make the children's life to be difficult...not all of them are going to follow the right path, and before you know it, one of them might follow the dad's footsteps and start having children at a very young age.
Will child regulation make things better in Nigeria?
It will reduce the population!
Although it will take a long time to balance out, it will surely improve the economic system to a good extent.
As it stands now, every year, thousands of graduates are produced, and there are very few jobs. The competition to get a job is as tough as the whole world trying to pass through a single door. It's very funny how we boast about being among the highest populated countries. We are just happy about the numbers, but deep down, the whole system is against us, especially the economic aspect, and this has a significant effect on the country at large.
Imagine a situation where people keep having children without properly caring for them, with the mindset that these children will catch up with life by all means and eventually support the parents when they are old. With this mindset, people just have children indiscriminately, feeling it's advantageous while it is disadvantageous to those who have only one or two children.
May God help us!😅
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to the Week 115, Edition 01 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community