The Nigerian government has refuted claims that it has started considering a birth control policy where the number of children per woman in Nigeria would be pegged at two.

Nigeria’s finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, at the 2018 Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, noted that the Federal government was planning a birth control policy to check the prevalent poverty and unemployment state in the country.

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who had earlier disclosed this on Tuesday, October 23, noted that the move was in realisation of the dangers posed by uncontrolled population growth.

In about 24 hours after the statement was allegedly made, the finance minister said she was misinterpreted.

“The federal government has been engaging critical stakeholders like traditional and religious leaders to advise their members on child spacing,”  Nigeria’s finance minister tweeted.

“We never said we are placing a cap on childbirth.”

The minister insisted that she only said the government was seeking religious and traditional leaders support to enlighten the public on child spacing.

“Exponential growth was identified as a challenge in the ERGP. We never said the Federal Government will place a cap on the number of childbirths, the government has been engaging traditional and religious leaders to educate their members on child spacing so they have the numbers we can adequately manage,” Ahmed said.

Report by Godday Akoh