A Nigerian family planning expert has told the BBC it would be difficult to implement the suggestion that Nigerians should only have three children.
Isaac Ogo pointed to the tradition of polygamy and the belief that the children were seen as a "gift from God" in a male-dominated society. Recent UN figures suggest Nigeria's population could jump to 730 million by 2100 - behind only India and China.
On the streets of the northern city of Kaduna, some people told the BBC that God decided how many children they had and so it would be wrong to try to limit the number of births. "[The UN] should try to advise the government how to make the lives of Nigerians better, not telling Nigerians not to have children - that is not their business," one angry woman said.
But one woman agreed that in a poor country such as Nigeria, it was better to have fewer children and look after them properly. Nigeria's population is currently 160m - by far the most populous in Africa but a long way behind those of China and India.
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