In a clear "Africa Day 2020," message last Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari warned fellow African leaders that there will be no development, without peace, on the continent.
But the elephant in the room of Africa's development discourse is its population.
It is not that population growth has only adverse effects on development and human welfare, we know that it can hinder improvements in both, which was why in 1979, the Chinese government implemented a historic population control policy of one child per family, complete with birth control programmes.
While I am not recommending a one-family-one-child policy for Africa, there is no doubt today that the economic incentives aspect of China's population policy is a good development policy.
Professor Okey Onyejekwe, a noted African expert on governance and a former director at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, was unequivocal when he said, "It is a delusion to think that we can address poverty alleviation or eradication without population control."
