Can the speed of fertility decline in sub-Saharan Africa be accelerated?

Evidence from studies showed that fertility rates across the world are declining as modernization is increasing, but Nigeria is still one of the poorest nations with largest population in Sub-Saharan Africa. Upon all the methods of family planning available to mothers, the nation`s current contraceptive prevalence rate is still as low as 15% with the national TFR of 5.7 and 4.5 for South-western Nigeria (NDHS, 2008). This descriptive study make use of 2011 FHWS data-set, to explore factors associated with mothers` desired family size and contraceptive use in Ipetumodu, South-western Nigeria. Majority of mothers were within the age-bracket 24-34yrs with the mean age of 32 yrs and the mean CEB of 3.12. About 19.0% of mothers desired a family size of 1-3 children, 70.0% desired a family size of 4-5 children while 67.0% want more children. Only 34.0% of mothers were using contraceptives. The logistic regression showed a relationship between the use of contraception and mothers` age (OR: 1.14, CI: 0.98-1.32); mothers opinion about contraception (OR: 1.27, CI: 1.07-1.52); and mothers intention to have more children (OR: 0.59, CI: 0.06-0.45). The study therefore recommends the development of programmes with focus on women`s education and empowerment and comprehensive family planning services so that mothers can space or limit births.