Family Planning: Increased Budgets, Prompt Release Would Make Nigerian Woman Give Birth By Choice – Ajah
Emmanuel Ajah, the Director of Programme Operations for Marie Stopes International Organisation Nigeria (MSION) in this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA, speaks on the risks of the high rate of fertility, poor budgets, unmet family needs in Nigeria among other issues. Excerpts: In 2020 proposed health budget, N32 billion out of the N46 billion allocated to the Health Capital Budget goes to immunisation. How will that further affect the demands or unmet needs for family planning in the country? We discovered that the budget for family planning in 2019 was dropped. And in the budget for 2020, which is being reviewed, much as there is that for health, we have not seen significant allocation for family planning. It may be interpreted that the government is not paying the needed attention to family planning. Advocacies are already being led to the National Assembly through stakeholders, especially the associations for Family Planning in Nigeria, to ensure that the needed budget