POPULATION, FOOD SECURITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA

Population growth and its interaction with food security and economic growth is the crux of the matter in this study. It has been documented that Nigeria is experiencing very high population growth rate due to aggravating high birth rate and plummeting death rate. The extent to which population growths affect food security and economic growth was therefore examined. Using time series data pooled from 1981 to 2016, tested for stationarity, co-integrated and corrected for error, the study observed a positive and significant relationship between government expenditure on social overheads and economic growth but a negative relationship between food security, population and economic growth. Especially an increase in population growth was observed to worsen food security and economic growth. Further, it increases government expenditure on social overheads and this relationship was very significant. Clearly, policies to check the bulging population rate therefore must target food production, food prices, social overheads, the extremely poor and fertility rates to be effective.