Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.4, No.15, 2013 108 Family Planning in Nigeria: a Myth or Reality? Implications for Education Anyanwu, J. I. Ph. D, Ezegbe, B.N. Ph.D, Eskay, M. Ph. D Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Abstract This study investigated the extent of family planning, the methods and contraceptive devices in use and the influence of education on family planning among couples in Nkanu Local Government Area of Enugu State. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprises all the married couples in this area. A sample size of six hundred married people was selected for this study. Questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument which was validated by three experts in relevant areas has two parts. Part A elicited the respondents’ bio-data while part B consisted of 12 items to elicit information to answer the research questions. The items were structured on a four point scale. In the selected area, the instrument was administered personally by the researchers to the literate respondents while the illiterates were interviewed using the items in the questionnaire. Percentages were used to answer research questions 2 and 3 while real limit of numbers was used to answer research question 1. The result shows that family planning practice among couples in Nkanu Local Government Area of Enugu State is high; the contraceptive methods used were mainly traditional. Educational status has positive influence on family planning in the area. It was recommended that the rural areas should be enlightened on the efficiency of the modern family planning methods. Key words: family planning, traditional methods, modern methods, couples, education. 1. Introduction Population growth has been a problematic issue all over the world consequently; many developed countries have approved and resorted to birth control or family planning. Family planning according to United Nations Population Funds Activities (UNPFA 2001) is a recognized basic human right and enables individuals and couples to determine the number and spacing of their children. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2013) stated that family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. This is achieved through use of contraceptive methods. A woman’s ability to space and limit her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and well-being as well as on the outcome of each pregnancy. In effect, family planning is the regulation and control of the rate of child birth by individuals, both married and unmarried. In developing nations like Nigeria, children are valued as they not only demonstrate the masculinity of the men but equally provide the extra useful hands in communities where agriculture is the major source of income. Besides, aged parents and extended family relations depend on their children for maintenance at old age. Hence, they are reluctant to limit birth. The rapid population growth made Nigerian former President Babangida rule that each family should have only four children. Consequently, the mass media started awareness campaigns on the consequences of having many children. Family planning clinics were also established in Government owned hospitals especially in the urban areas of the country. This however, did not achieve much result due to cultural and religious inclinations of the multifarious ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. Report from Okediji (2003) however showed that women want to have fewer children than they actually have. In other words, women are more receptive of family planning than their male counterparts since they bear the burden of childbearing and rearing with the attendant house chores and probable break down in health. Supporting the view that having many children can result to breakdown in health, Davis (2003) stated that family planning is important from the point of view of health and welfare of mothers and children but does not control population. This also lends credence to the (UNPFA 2001) view that Family planning ensures improved maternal and infant health, reduces exposure to health risks and reduced recourse to abortion. On a contrary note, Delano (2002) stated that birth control is a disguised attempt sponsored by the imperialists and non- socialists in Europe, to reduce the population of under-developed countries in terms of human resources for technological development and warfare liberation purposes. This lends credence to the Igbo cultural belief in having as many children as possible both for security and economic reasons. From experience, the Igbos do not give out the number of children they have and will always retort “you do not count children” when asked. It is both uncultural to say the number of children in the family and socially wrong to control the number of births because of their belief in reincarnation or coming back of the spirits of their dead ancestors. There is however the consciousness among the Igbos that the economic wellbeing of the family, the woman and the child must be ensured. This they achieve through traditionally approved methods of spacing births which include forbidding sexual relations during lactation as it is believed to affect the health of the baby. This practice is also prevalent in the western part of Nigeria. In a study by Caldwell and Wane (2002) it