Nigeria became a member of the Alliance in 2002.
- As a first step to its membership, Nigeria established a South-South secretariat at the Department of International Co-operation of the National Planning Commission. In further preparation, Nigeria, through its national UNFPA office and the PPD Secretariat, conducted a nationwide needs assessment to identify gaps and strengths in population and RH policies and programmes. To complement its findings, Nigeria sent out 3 eight-member delegations from its federal and state levels to Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe in December 1999, followed by a nationwide dissemination seminar on South-South partnerships.
- In September 2005 Nigeria organized a National Dissemination Workshop under VLP project. At the end of the two and half years of successful project implementation, the NDWs identified and promoted a group of committed and trained visionary leaders in population and reproductive health. The principal objective of the NDWs was to share experiences and “showcase” the actions and achievements of the VLP participants (known as “VLP Fellows”) in their professional capacity and as VLP graduates.
- Further, Nigeria sent an 11-member delegation headed by the Minister of Health to the 2001 Kochi Technical Consultative Meeting on Commodity Security organised by PPD in India.
- In the last 10 years, Nigeria has intensified efforts in its programmes on family planning and population and on development issues. Nigeria is the Chair of the ECOWAS initiative aimed at reversing the trend in human trafficking.
- The civil society in Nigeria is involved with South-South partnerships with their counterparts in the developing countries who have similar socio-economic environments and challenges. Many Nigerian NGOs are members of the Reproductive Health Partnership for NGOs in Sub Saharan Africa. AMANITARE is a network of African feminists working in the area of SRH. In 2002, the group organised a skills exchange in Abuja which was attended by 30 participants from the region. In 2003, the group held a regional conference with 200 participants from the region as well as from Asia and Latin America.
- Among other Nigerian efforts, an e-forum for debate and information dissemination was created by Journalists against AIDS (JAIDS), in addition to publishing a media handbook with other NGOs.
- A project entitled “Securing Political Support for Population Programmes and Policies” was initiated to sensitise major key stakeholders including members of the legislative houses on population and development. To facilitate the process, the Resources for the Awareness of Population in Development (RAPID) was developed in 1998 and revised in 2002.
- Nigeria gained from PPD’s Visionary Leadership Programme in Kano with the training of 63 fellows and the establishment of a national anchor institute, AHIP, to give support to the fellows.
- The “I Need to Know” television series was launched in 1999 through UNFPA to address RH concerns of adolescents and to empower them to seek answers from their parents and other gatekeepers about sexuality and health.
- Nigeria has been actively involved in PPD agenda as can be seen in the many undertakings. The country has been successful in organising:
- Study tours to Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe to promote contact and strengthen the operational capacity of project managers and policy makers;
- Study tours to Indonesia and Kenya for 2 members of the 2 House Committee on population and development to gain first hand information on political leadership in population and development, in predominantly Islamic and Christian countries;
- Strengthening country capacity for training in population planning;
- Training of master trainers in integration of population factors in planning;
- Organising dialogue meeting with parliamentarians and sensitisation seminar for Directors of Planning and their Permanent Secretaries.