An Original Investigation into the Sociology of Population Control Policy in Post-Colonial Nigeria

Population policy in Nigeria has a contested history shaped by competing ideologies of state control, cultural sovereignty, and development imperatives, and developing an original sociological theory of how population control policy has been conceptualised, resisted, and reimagined in post-colonial Nigeria represents a significant contribution to both demography and African sociology. This study conducted an original theoretical and historical investigation into the sociology of population control policy in Nigeria from 1960 to the present. A critical social science methodology was employed, combining systematic historical document analysis (colonial and post-colonial population policy texts, demographic committee reports, and religious opposition statements), oral history interviews with 30 former and current population policy architects and civil society advocates from all geopolitical zones, and theoretical engagement with Malthusian ideology critique, feminist demography, and post-colonial theory. The historical analysis traced the evolution of policy framing from colonial-era concern with under-population, through post-independence natalist pronatalism, to the 1988 Population Policy's anti-natalist turn, and subsequent fertility-neutral framing. Key social forces shaping each policy phase were identified: Islamic scholar resistance, Catholic Church opposition, and feminist reconstruction of reproductive rights. The original Nigerian Population Policy Sociology Framework proposes four analytical dimensions: ideological contestation, gendered governance, demographic expertise and power, and cultural sovereignty. Expert review by 22 demographers and sociologists confirmed the framework's original disciplinary contribution.

Keywords: population policy sociology, Nigeria, post-colonial demography, reproductive governance, demographic history