By Ali Sabo
A lot has been said and a lot will continue to be said in the coming days regarding whether one should have many children or not. Children are the most precious gift anyone can ask and crave for and pray to have in this world; the joy of having a child is far beyond comprehension by human brain.
Ask anyone that ever had a child especially his first child he will tell how happy he was when the notice came to him especially if he wasn’t around when it happened. Of course the prophet said we should procreate as many as we can so that he can be proud of us in the day of judgement, and any good Muslim will be happy to fulfil this task in order to be among the proudest ones in the hereafter, but at what expense? In the past, I have restrained myself from indulging into this debate not because I don’t have what to contribute or of fear of being attacked by any side; the promoters of family planning or those that are against it but because I have many pressing issues to handle that demand my urgent attention more than this.
Interestingly, today I read two beautiful writings from my friends here on Facebook; Ismail Auwal and Tahir Mahmud Sale about how the promoters of family planning failed to understand the genesis behind having more children by our people and the ways they supposed to carry out their campaigns.
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It’s a well-known fact by anyone that cares to listen and read that Northern Nigeria has been in a state of tattered and backwardness economically and in terms of Western Education as cited by Ismail for too long. These two factors if we look at them critically we will understand that they are the pillars that lead to modern development and way to economic independence and living a better life, and anyone lacking in this regard will be more frown and very hard to convince to accept any change easily most especially if it comes from people he/she perceives as enemies.
Education as they say is what salvages and cures man from the evil within him, helps him to unchained the chains on his legs and drives him to freedom, unfortunately, successive governments in this region has failed over the years and are still failing woefully in providing even the most basic education at grassroots level. It will surprise you to know that in Kano State we have communities that has never graduated a single boy or girl from primary school and this is 21st century we are talking about, so how do you think you can convince a person from one of these communities whose entire life depends on farming and these children you are asking him to stop producing are the ones helping in tilting the land that having more children is not good for him?
In my little knowledge and understanding of grassroots movements and advocacy, advocating for family planning is not something that we will be discussing on Facebook or Twitter, significant number of people on either Facebook or Twitter are responsible and know what is best for them. I suggest that we focus more on mounting pressure on government both at state and national level to ensure these people are given quality education, good roads, water and other basic needs, then and only then we can convince them to accept this change.
Ali Sabo Is the communication officer Centre for Information Technology and Development CITAD.
