By Odunewu Segun
The occurrence of teenage pregnancy in the country crossed the 60 million mark in 2016, according to statistics provided by the National Population Commission (NPC), and it is still growing.
And most alarming about this statistics was that most of the teenagers are either still in the primary school or at Junior Secondary school level.
A former Federal Commissioner of the NPC in Kogi State, Mohammed Akubo Aikoye, who put the ages between 15 and 19 expresses fear over the figure stressed that the Government need to take drastic measures at preventing teenage pregnancy.
He pointed out that the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy in the country can be appreciated against the background that about one third of Nigeria population, that is 44.5 million young people between the ages of 10-24 got pregnant in 2006.
He lamented that poverty, sexual abuse, ignorance cultural and religious beliefs were salient factors responsible for teenage pregnancies in Nigeria, adding that teenage pregnancy varied markedly in the northern and southern geo-political zones and rural areas with one in every three teenage girls in the north and one out of 10 in the south.
Indications are also emerging about peer pressure of factors encouraging both girls and boys to engage in unprotected sex. This has resulted in the increase of sexual activities among teenagers and consequently higher teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STD), use of drugs and alcohol, including marijuana, etc which encourage unintended sexual activities that may end up in teenage pregnancy.
