A woman, right, listens to the counsel of a nurse on family planning

A United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) 2013 reports has shown that Lagos State topped the list of acceptors of family planning services in the country with the highest value of 188,202 acceptors.

The report is entitled “2013 Facility Assessment for Reproductive Health Commodities and Services Survey in Nigeria”.

According to the report, the acceptors are persons who accepted for the first time in their lives any method of contraceptive within a defined period of time.

The report, which was presented on Thursday to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos by UNFPA, also showed that the state was followed by Kastina with 129, 742.

Bauchi was third with 123, 847 and followed by Kogi 116,150 and Sokoto with 102,441 acceptors respectively.

“Other states with relatively high values are Federal Capital Territory, Kano, Oyo and Ogun with 76, 846, 73, 448, 65,484 and 65,159 respectively.

“The least in values were found in Bayelsa, Benue, Akwa Ibom and Ekiti States with 823, 5,125; 5,261; 8,763 and 8,939 respectively,’’ the report said.

Based on the findings, it recommended that there was the need to improve the supply of contraceptives at the primary warehouse available for re-supply.

The report also called for the strengthening of the procurement process as well as the capacity of health providers and facilities in providing longer-term contraceptive methods.

It also called for enlightenment of clients on their contraceptive options, the need to strengthen regular monitoring efforts as well as the removal of barriers to the supply chain.