Scenes from Nigeria's Baby Boom

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With 224 million people, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country. By 2050, it could crack the global top three with some 375 million people. In the second of our two-part series on the global population passing eight billion, National Geographic photographer Yagazie Emezie describes scenes she captured in Lagos, Africa’s biggest city—including intimate close-ups of a family raising four children in a one-room apartment and women receiving prenatal care. Plus, a Nigerian demographer explains how the country's soaring birth rate could make it an economic powerhouse, but only if the country finds new ways to invest in its youthful population. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? See Yagazie Emezi’s photos—and other scenes from a world with 8 billion people—in the April issue of National Geographic. For a previous National Geographic assignment, Yagazie photographed the women stepping up to remake Rwanda. Follow her on Instagram @yagazieemezi. Also explore: With a get-rich spirit that fuels the continent’s largest economy, see why Lagos has become Africa’s boom town. Read more from Akanni Akinyemi, including how Africa will shape the future of the planet’s population. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When I first got this assignment, I think my first thoughts were so known.
0:10.3	How am I going to do this?
0:12.1	Yagaze Amazie is a Nigerian photographer and a national geographic explorer.
0:17.8	Last year, Nat Geo asked her to photograph Nigeria's population, which is projected to
0:22.4	explode in the next few decades.
0:24.4	I've spent the majority of my life in Nigeria, but I haven't experienced even a fraction
0:30.9	of this country just because of its size and because of its diversity.
0:37.3	Nigeria is home to hundreds of different ethnic groups in languages, but the center of gravity
0:42.8	attracting people from all over is Lagos.
0:46.5	With 15 million people in counting, Lagos isn't just the largest city in Nigeria, it's
0:51.4	the biggest in Africa.
0:53.4	The Yagaze moved there herself right after college.
0:56.2	I grew up in the south of Nigeria.
0:58.3	It came into Lagos for the first time.
1:00.8	I was taking a lot of out of this.
1:03.5	It was an adult.
1:05.1	I was like, this is a city.
1:07.8	In fact, when I reached Yagaze, she was in a setting that's familiar to city dwellers
1:13.0	everywhere.
1:14.0	Camped out in a coffee shop so she could use the internet and talk to me.
1:17.8	Very, very overpriced.
1:19.8	I am very interested about it.
	...

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