In economics, there is a population size that when combined with available natural resources will produce the best national income at any given time. This is referred to as the Optimum Population. If the labour force from a given population is not enough to maximize output in the production year of a country, this will bring about a decline in its GDP and/or per capita GDP and such a country would be said to be underpopulated. On the reverse, if the labour force is too large with respect to other factors of production, this will trigger the law of diminishing returns to scale and, such a country would be said to be overpopulated with consequent decline in the standard of living.

In one of my previous jobs, we were ten staff in a unit with limited resources of seven chairs, one laptop and, less than ten spaces in the cabinet. You can imagine the constant strife and inefficiencies. Nigeria today has over two hundred million inhabitants and there has been so much emphasis from within and outside the country about the dangers of a fast growing population that even the Federal Government of Nigeria considers this to be one of our banes. But let us pause and ask, are we really overpopulated in the economic sense? Literally, to the man on the street, the country is overpopulated because two hundred million is a huge number and, life is so hard for him as a citizen of the poverty capital of the world.

In proffering an answer to the puzzle, I analyzed data on per capita GDP and population size from 1960 to 2017, a scope of 57 years, sourced from indexmundi. From the trend, Nigeria have had six optima populations since its political independence. The first was in 1966 with a population of over 60 million, the citizens enjoyed a relatively high standard of living with a per capita income of $124.31. Then we had optima in 1970, 1976, 1980, and after a quarter of a century we had another in 2008. And after five years of decline from the last optimum, the per capita income recorded an all time highest of $3,221.68 in year 2014.

It is interesting to note that despite our frequent declines in per capita GDP, we have never gone below the lowest per capita GDP of $92.96 in 1960. It is true that our population has multiplied more than five times since 1960 in a span of 59 years, does this imply overpopulation? Recall that a country is said to be underpopulated if its labour force is inadequate to produce the best output given its available natural resources. In the production process, the factors of land, labour, capital and enterprise are combined in certain proportions to produce goods and services which monetary value is summed to get the national income. Consider the production equation below.

• Y = L + K + ? + E
• Where Y = GDP = National Income
• L = Labour (over 58,000,000)
• K = Capital (low national savings 14.9% of GDP and labour intensive technology)
• ? = Land (over 70,000,000 hectares of arable land)
• E = Entrepreneurship

A large labour force is considered an advantage in the production process. High levels of national savings and technology, fertile arable land and competent enterprise to organise other factors are also of significant importance. According to the Nigerian government, we have inadequate labour to exploit our huge natural resources. We have a very low national savings and practice an intense labour production technique. And enterprise, the most important factor, is just beginning to gather momentum in the economy.

From the foregoing we can conclude that “Nigeria is Underpopulated.” The highest standard of living we enjoyed was in 2014. Before this time, everyone believed we were overpopulated. With rising population growth, per capita GDP increase will come from the improvement in any or all of technology, labour, land and enterprise. Remember how the vices and misery of population explosion failed to happen in England according to Rev. Thomas Malthus fears because of the Industrial Revolution.

Our prospect may look bleak when we compare our indices with the rest of the world. With a per capita income of $1,968.56, Nigeria is a negative outlier to the global per capita GDP of $17,300.00 The difference between the standard of living in Luxembourg ($104,103) and Nigeria ($1,968.56) is like the heavens from the earth. But if China, with over a billion people and a per capita income that was below $2,000.00 before its economic reforms, could achieve greater optima populations with a current per capita GDP of $8,826.99, Nigeria has greater potential to do better.

I conclude that, given my little analysis, Nigeria is underpopulated. Reason, our economic carrying capacity is huge; this means the country has the capacity to sustain a maximum population size indefinitely, given the natural resources and economic opportunities that abound in the country. Also, for a long time we have not had the best representation in government. There’s an urgent need to elect the best, a new breed that will not see our population as a problem but a great opportunity for global competition.

Good governance thrives on a marketplace of ideas. Radio as an arm of the electronic media is the most ubiquitous, popular and highly sought after means of mass communication. Its reach to the nooks and corners of developing nations is legendary. As part of the emerging cities in the millennium, the radio waves have continued to witness more expansion. In Osun, the trend is there, the implications are obvious. The implications are the focus of this piece.

How it all began

The first radio signal was first sent and received in Osun on  25th November, 1991. This followed the attempts to create a media house for the new state carved out from the old Oyo State. Since then, the government owned station has continued to play a leading role in the Osun media landscape. This is in spite of the location of Gold FM, a Radio Nigeria FM Station in Ilesa by the Olusegun Obasanjo led Federal Government. Some form of competition came on board when Uniq 103.1 FM, a privately owned radio station located in Ilesa, also surfaced on the Osun media landscape in 2010. The competition from Ilesa was buoyed up from the central zone with Raypower FM and Rave FM coming in succession to swell the number of radio stations in the State of the Virtue. After them have come  Crown FM, Ife; Timsed FM, Ijebu Ijesa, Oodua FM, Ile Ife and Great FM located on the campus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, also in Ile Ife.

What are the implications of the expanded radio space in Osun?

The radio boom in Osun has its own consequences depending on where one is looking at it. The prospect is looking brighter for the average Osun indigenes and residents and advertisers hoping to derive some benefits from this development. However, radio station owners and managers, the space is getting wider and the audience base is becoming more competitive. For the radio audience in Osun, there is a variety of stations and programmes. The choice is theirs to make. Listeners have more stations to attend to their radio needs and listening pleasure. They are the greatest beneficiaries of this multiplication of radio stations. They have gradually exited an era when they only had access to information from government owned radio station to a number of stations driven by different motives. Their chances of getting their voices heard have also widened. In Osun today, the average listener is the beautiful  bride whose taste bud is now to be romanced with quality programmes. Not only that, the access to multiple voices and ideas on issues now pervades the airwaves in the state. So, no matter how it is considered, the listener is the winner in Osun.

Advertisers too now have wider opportunities to market their products and services to the people. From Osogbo to Ijebu Ijesa, the coast is clearer for the advertisers to spread their messages. There is a break in the long  monopoly of the airwaves enjoyed by the government owned OSBC before now. Jingles in English and Yoruba could continue to roll out on the Osun airwaves.

For the government, the wider information landscape is a major threat.  The voice has been taken out of the radio station previously considered as the government megaphone. The media handlers of the governor now has to monitor the expanded airwaves 24/7 to stay on top of information flow and respond to issues faster than their predecessors. The emerging radio boom now opens the government flanks to more criticism. Where the state owned station might be cautious in interrogating certain issues concerning the owners, their private counterparts would go all the way to open up government policies to scrutiny. While the average citizens are the greatest beneficiaries of the expanding media space, the government appears the most threatened.

Radio station owners and managers are equally under fire. The implication of more players on the airwaves is water tight competition. The narrow source of revenue becomes narrower. The stations compete in terms of audience base and advertising revenue. In broadcast business, the medium first builds a huge listenership which would be patronised by the advertisers. With more stations in competition for the same audience base, getting audience attention becomes water tight. The station with the domineering transmission power that has the reach stays on top. This must be complemented with quality programming and sound mix of great talents. Not only that, creative ways must be devised to make the audience loyal to the station. The mechanism of feedback must be strengthened. The trend of location of the new radio stations in the state is interesting. There seems to be a tug of war between the Osun Central Zone and the Osun East Senatorial District. The state capital, Osogbo is in contention with Ilesa, Ife and Ijebu Ijesa in hosting the radio stations.

The airwaves could only get bigger and better!