“Accelerating Nigeria’s Achievement of Demographic Dividend: Process and Progress So Far”

Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, Chairman, National Population Commission

Briefing the Press @ The Press Conference On “Accelerating Nigeria’s Achievement of Demographic Dividend: Process and Progress So Far”

Nigeria was among the frontline Africa Union (AU) Member States to respond to AU mandate to develop and launch a Nigeria Roadmap on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through investment in Youth on 6th July 2017. By this action, Nigeria indeed expressed the Federal Government’s commitment to harness demographic dividend through the collaborative efforts of multi-sectoral players in the areas of health and well-being including family planning, education, employment, skills acquisition and quality governance. These constitute the key pillars to Nigeria to achieve the goal of the Nigeria Roadmap 2017.

2. Thereafter, the Gates Institute established collaboration with the AU and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to develop DD Scorecards as a participatory tool for assessing the existence of DD-favorable and high-impact policies, compiling high return on investment (ROI) policies and corresponding indicators to allow countries to generate snapshots of their progress towards reaping DD and identify gaps and opportunities to nurture their policies or investments. For the pilot stage, six (6) countries selected for this project are Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

3. This event is specially organized with the support of Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Program (JHUCCP) to present two (2) important documents, produced by the National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the Demographic Dividend Community of Practice (CoP) and JHUCCP -

i. The Nigeria Demographic Dividend Effort Index Report/ Scorecard; and,

ii. The Nigeria Demographic Dividend Policy Brief (An advocacy material for result-focused and actionable strategies that can accelerate Nigeria’s efforts to harness DD based on the Nigeria’s key DD pillars).

4. The DD Scorecard is designed to enable Effective Policy and Socio-economic Impact Assessment and as a participatory tool for assessing the existence of DD-favourable and high-impact policies, compiling high return on investment (ROI) policies and corresponding indicators to allow countries to generate snapshots of their progress towards reaping DD and identify gaps and opportunities to nurture their policies or investments.

5. May I take this opportunity to acknowledge with gratitude the effective partnership/collaboration and support from Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Program (JHUCCP) that has enabled milestones of achievements in developing the Demographic Dividend (DD) Scorecard for Nigeria and the Policy Brief. Thank you for supporting Nigeria to establish a country-level Community of DD Practice (CoP), whose commitment contributed immensely to progress made so far.

6. The Scorecard, is a veritable tool that will enable tracking of our national progress at harnessing the Demographic Dividend, and will permit periodic assessments of our performances at different levels and sectors guided by the Roadmap launched in 2017. Equally, the Policy Brief contains recommendations that will arouse the consciousness of policy and decision makers to sustain commitments and take responsibility to address issues highlighted for attention in the brief.

7. The Scorecard will facilitate effective implementation of relevant policies targeted at improving the standards of living and quality of life of all the people of Nigeria, which will eventually create opportunities for accelerated economic growth. This is particularly critical for the effective implementation of the Revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development (NPP), about to be considered and approved by the Federal Executive Council.

At this point, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the DD Community of Practice and the people of Nigeria, I hereby Present these two important products to the public.

8. As we commence the “Decades of Actions and Outcomes”, I request for support from all our stakeholders, the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Partner/Donors and members of the Fourth Estate of the Realms in the elaborate dissemination and use of the information in the two (2) documents to guide policy decisions and actions in Nigeria.

I thank you and Good-afternoon.