Baby boom. Our correspondent investigates. The population of africa is set to double by the year 2050. To 2. 5 billion people. The young are moving from the countryside to the towns. Unfortunately for us, in the last two, three years its been a deluge. But many end up in slums and cities are struggling to cope. An Industrial Revolution could transform african countries and lift millions out of poverty. Every year it grows, 20 millionjobs per year over the coming decades. But i dont use could mean millions more migrants and drive many into the hands of islamist extremists. And that is everyones problem. There is nowhere in the world where women have more children. Half the girls here are married by 15. So it isnt surprising that children have children. We are on the fringe of the sahara desert, not far from nigerias northern border. Niger is one of the world class microporous countries. It is mostly agricultural. The average number of children born a woman is 7. 6. And here it is even higher than that, so the government and aid agencies are trying to do something about it. Tucked away, out of earshot, girls as young as ten talk about topics many adults here consider taboo. Family planning, contraception, early marriage, and even forced marriage. Three older girls take the lead. The aid workers who have trained them call this the safe space class. This woman is 27 and has four children. Translation one of the things we are teaching the girls here is about early marriage and the consequences of having children before they are 18. During the delivery a girl can lose her life, or the child could die. Before this programme, women had many children, but with the coming of this programme the number of children is really reducing. Who decides how many children you should have . Translation my husband, he decides that. And thats the crux of it, the husband decide. And so they started a husbands school. Translation if you give your daughter away at 12 it could be a disaster. The conversation is just as open on this side of the village. Translation having fewer children helped the woman to be able to breast feed properly. Translation before we learned from this Programme Many of our kids were not healthy, but now we dont have a problem. This man is 27, he is one of the more enthusiastic converts to the fewer kids philosophy. He and his wife have three children. Translation i come from a big family. My father has three wives. I have about 16 siblings. Im not sure how many we are, but i think we are 16. The idea that more children means more hands to help on the farm doesnt ring true with him any more. Translation know, if someone has ten children, only three, four of them are healthy, so its better to have four, that is better for work in the field. Truly, there is a problem here with having too many children. But now we have been the Husband School we know more. We can have a child, and wait for a while before having the next one. Even if some people do change their mind and decide to have fewer babies, the dramatic growth in population will take a long time to slow down. By 2050 the number of people in niger will triple from the 21 million here today. Traditions are hard to shift and the culture is to have many, many children. But this is the way to do it. Show them what the options are at a mobile clinic. Another case of tackling taboos head on. And from the crowd, a woman decides to have a three year contraception implant in front of everyone, saying she has had three kids and she is happy with that for now. Translation i decided to do it in front of everybody so they can see how it is done. Because before there were rumours that while doing it it hurts. And they see themselves today that it does not hurt at all. And it did persuade a few sceptics. This woman said her husband had given her permission, in fact it was his idea, he is educated, she told me, and he heard them talking about it in husbands school. They are small steps towards bringing the birth rate down. This population explosion matters. Across africa, but more so in niger, all of these young people are a bonus if the country is on the rise but can also be a burden. Translation the immediate consequences of having such a high birth rate is that it is impossible to feed, educate, and care for all of these children in the short term. In the long term the very survival of the country is threatened unless we take this window of opportunity to make the most this youth dividend. It could encourage things like terrorism and immigration. There are fewjobs in the countryside. On both sides of this border between Northern Nigeria and niger, boko haram recruit idle youth. Those who can hit the big urban areas. From here we followed one man who has left to make it big in lagos. His family are talking about the son and brother, the husband and father, who left his wife and one year old boy behind. Translation we dont have money to eat, so we had to send him to look for money. He send around 100 every now and again which they use for the farm, food, and clothes. It is quite a contrast, moving from a village of 7000 people to africas largest city. This was not quite what he had in mind, but optimism is emblazoned across his chest. Translation i dont have it easy. But i realised how much hard it was to get work. But you cant just sit here without a job. I wanted to buy and sell, to have a shop, and to make enough money to go back to school to get the rest of my education. Every day thousands of people arrive in lagos, africas largest city, looking for the same thing, a new start in life. Many end up in the slums, struggling to make a living. There have always been mixed blessings of having to deal with the influx of people. Unfortunately for us, in the last two, three years, it has been a deluge. We want the people to be here to bring ideas, values, and innovation. But we are onlyjust able to deal with it. This is what an african mega city looks like. It is crowded, chaotic, and crumbling. Lagos is already struggling to house, to look after, and to educate the way over 21 Million People already living here. Let alone the millions more predicted to crush into the city. But there is an incredible energy, and we need creative thinking to turnit and we need creative thinking to turn it into an opportunity. This festival celebrates historic culture. In the overcrowded slums, masquerades represent the spirits of the dead, returned to cleanse the city of evil and pray for peace and prosperity. Emerging from the rusted tin roofs is one answer to the prayers building up. How are we going to accommodate all of the population . We must go up. This man has spent 25 years as an urban planner in los angeles. Now he has brought his skills home. Now that we are able to go vertically, we are able to reduce overcrowding. It gives the advantage of the air space, which has been lost. Tower blocks are not a new idea and they are expensive, but lagos needs to renew without moving people out. One answer is creative financing, to lure private investment into affordable housing. We can introduce some of the ideas i have brought from los angeles and see which ones are usable. This is the other way to deal with slums. This community was cleared in march, despite a court order protecting it. Many people fear they will be next. 0ver a0 communities have the threat of eviction. About 1000 people will be rendered slowly if this action is carried out. When you demolish one slum, two, three slums will rise up after this, because people need somewhere to sleep. There two Main Industries in the slums, fishing and dredging for building sand. But the beach is quiet. The people say the Security Forces came and smashed up the boats. Translation i am very angry. They destroyed my boat and my husbands boats. We have no money. We have had to withdraw the children from school. The State Government cites security reasons and says people are never forcibly removed, but people here things it just wants them out. All of these communities were demolished so that the rich would benefit from it. So, i feel strongly that the State Government is interested in the land, but we are not going to give in. The lagos government know that the Waterfront Community is expensive land. There are big plans for waterfront living. There is to be a manhattan style development. And there are other building projects. We are on the east end of the site. Between here and there, we have the hotel. This man is developing a 100 million site. Lagos has to balance a modern vision against its growing inequality. There will always remain the super rich and the people just below the poverty line. The hope is that over the next few years you will see that gap bridged as more people getjobs. The only way to manage a massive, over growing mega city is to invest in infrastructure, whether it be power lines, or rail lines. This will be nigerias first ever electrical Light Railway system. Within ten years they want six of these lines crisscrossing the state, keeping lagos on the move. But the city is outgrowing efforts to house, employee, and serve its people. We are in an open age. People are going to keep coming. We have to find more creative ways to accommodate more people. Climate change, drought, and a doubling population are already testing the continents capacity to feed itself. And by 2050 a quarter of the world will be africans. Farming needs to be much more productive. Kenya is at the forefront of a big, International Effort to create better plans that produce more crops in the harshest conditions. Smallholder farmers here could easily produce four times as much food. This man is one of the guinea pigs. He has replaced most of his maize with a mixture of Old Fashioned crops like millet and peas, which put nutrients back into the soil. Translation these days we are getting less rain. When i applaud these crops i know i will have something. Unlike with maize. Millet and peas normally resist the drought. Hes also been given new and improved plants, hybrids he is happy with. Translation these peas are bigger, they mature faster, and they can get two crops in a year, better than one. That is where the science comes in, finding the best strains means crossbreeding hundreds of plants to isolate the traits they are looking for. We are trying to combine traits, characteristics from different plants into one, so we end up with a superior plant that is early maturing, high yielding, drought tolerant, and resistant to many pests and diseases. And as well as being highly nutritious. And this new dna profiling lab in nairobi makes that process a lot quicker. This machine tries to understand the differences in the populations of hundreds of crops. It isnt genetically modifying, but by sequencing varieties of 101 carefully chosen traditional african food crops they can go straight in to find the best performing strains. We have a random selection. We go for selecting only those types which contain the signatures of high yield and for drought tolerance. Nutritionist have to get people excited about these crops in a place where maize is everything. So, to Cooking School in rural kenya. These foods used to be staples in kenya. Before colonialism brought maize along. They are more drought resistant, more nutritious, and pretty easy to rustle up into all sorts of meals. I have two. And this is the pigeon pea stew. The little bit of everything. Very good. Chuckles four Young Farmers have been chosen to put their skills to the ultimate test. And the other thing is to persuade young people to stay on the farm. This Reality Tv Show is kenyas attempt to make farming seem cool. It is aimed particularly at millennials. It shows that farming is a business, that money can be made. It also helps older farmers up their output, making Small Holding more productive and profitable is one step towards growing enough food. But for the Demographic Dividend to be cashed in people need jobs. Agricultural revolution is the precursor of the Industrial Revolution. Here in ethiopia there is a grand plan. The First Industrial park was built in addis ababa. But the biggest was just opened south of the capital in it has the Fastest Growing economy, albeit from a low base, and it has become the darling of international investors. It is a phenomenal project. The architect of this new Industrial Revolution is meeting executives from some of the worlds biggest textile companies. He built it and they came. Ethiopian workers already have jobs making the fabric, putting the garments together. The pay isnt great, she says, but it isntjust about money, but about building a Better Future for me and the country. The big solution to the population explosion in ethiopian is putting its young people to work. They are building these vast Industrial Parks across the country, putting in infrastructure, training up a workforce, and attracting Foreign Companies to make their shirts, skirts, suits, and socks here rather than in asia. As in much of africa, china has a hand in the expansion and sees echoes of its own dramatic growth. Translation why did we choose ethiopian . Ethiopia. It has a stable political situation and a peaceful society. And it is the second Biggest Country in africa without a big population there is no market. There is a huge amount of building going on across ethiopian. Scale and ambition is impressive. Row after row, government built social housing. A new electric railway to whisk imports and exports between the capital and the coast. Perhaps the most visible sign of ethiopias growth is its airline. It has been dramatically expanding over the last ten years. It is government own. Ethiopian airlines flies all over the world. What better advert for a country on the rise . We can learn from china that making investment in the long term in infrastructure is quite important. The population is growing by about 5 . We need to create close to 1 million jobs every year. This is a big challenge. Manufacturing has a significant part injob creation. This provides an opportunity for what we call the Demographic Dividend. But without having a policy it will be difficult. Aggressive policies in ethiopian mean a heavy hand. Protests were crushed. A state of emergency has just ended. There were questions about lack of freedoms and authoritarianism. Building democracies that are sustaining means a lot of effort. We are going to put in a lot of effort despite the issues we have. Ethiopia has also built a lot of universities, focusing now on engineering and Technology Rather than arts. But what about the dilemma . What is important, Economic Growth, or freedom of speech and democracy . Its not as if one is more important than the other, but definitely Economic Growth is a means to our democracy. It is a path for our democracy, a path for freedom of speech. If there is the education in a country, and people are still hungry, what are they going to speak about . Industrialisation isnt the only answer to africas population explosion, but is already creating dividends for easier coulds economy. If it gets the balance right it could to put a continent to work. In much of africa that is a big ask. In poor countries like niger it seems the economy wont come close to keeping up with population growth. In rich ones like nigeria it comes down to good thoughts and good actions. Even if the speed and scale of urban growth offers its own set of challenges. This african population explosion is coming and its impact will be felt across the globe for good orfor bad. Hi there. Weve got some decent weather coming up to start the weekend. With High Pressure in charge, well have some sunshine to start the day on saturday. Mind you, some of you might have been woken in the night by the odd rumble of thunder. A few storms from lincolnshire, down through cambridgeshire, hertfordshire and essex, as well, all clearing out of away, and starting off then on saturday with relatively cool air in place. Temperatures 10 12 degrees in the towns and cities, but cooler than that out in the countryside, so certainly a chill in the air. Will be fine start to the day, though, on saturday. I mentioned the High Pressure with us, that is going to bring some sunny spells. But the second half of the weekend will bring a change in the weather. Well have a bright start for many, but outbreaks of rain will work in from the west. Ok, here is saturdays weather forecast, and it should be a glorious start to the day, with clear blue skies for many of us first thing saturday morning. Into the early stage of the afternoon, there will be a little bit of cloud bubbling up, particularly across parts of southern and eastern scotland, eastern areas of england, and that cloud could bring one or two very isolated, light showers. But the vast majority will enjoy fine and dry weather. It will tend to cloud over, though, for western counties of Northern Ireland as we go through saturday afternoon, the breeze picking up here ahead of a weather front. But for england and wales, plenty of sunshine around, and in the sunshine, widely, well see temperatures climbing into the high teens to low 20s. The highest temperatures probably around london and the south east of england, at around 22 celsius, so very similar to what we had yesterday. It will feel pleasantly warm in that sunshine, but there are those isolated showers towards the coastline of essex and into parts of east anglia. Here is the charts from saturday into sunday. We lose this area of High Pressure. These weather fronts on the way. They will begin to show their hand as we go through the night time, with an area of rain working into Northern Ireland first, and then later in the night well start to see the cloud thicken, and outbreaks of rain arrive on strengthening winds across the south west, wales, the north west of england, and western parts of scotland, too. It will be a relatively mild night, though, as the clouds continue to work in, 12 to 15 degrees for saturday night. Here is the chart for sunday well, quite a different day. A bright start, yes, for eastern scotland and central and eastern england, but the brightness will not last. We will see the cloud thicken up, as this band of rain pushes its way east, with with one or two heavier bursts around. Even behind that rain, at will probably stay cloudy at times, before brighter spells come in. Temperatures between 15 and 19 celsius, so a cooler day. Monday will have a few spots of light rain and drizzle across western coasts and hills, and more persistent rain working into the north west. Despite the cloudy conditions, temperatures are not doing too badly, highs again about 22. Thats your weather. Welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. Im gavin grey. Our top stories celebrations in kenya as the Supreme Court declares last months president ial election null and void. President kenyatta said hell abide by the decision. Fire is burning out of control at a Chemical Plant in texas which flooded in the wake of Hurricane Harvey the area has been evacuated. Hello and welcome to bbc news. In an historic ruling, kenyas Supreme Court has overturned the result of last months election, and ordered a re run. President Uhuru Kenyatta says the decision is political, but he will accept the judgement
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