Is paternity testing becoming an issue
in Nigeria?
We have seen that there is serious need
for it because in many homes things are
happening that are scary both to the
lives of children and their parents. And
for the general statistics that is now
available, it is found that three out of
every ten men are not the fathers of
their babies. Similarly, three out of every
ten children are not fathered by men
they have seen as their biological fathers.
What we have found out is that, anytime
we take ten men, at least three of them
eventually found that they are not the
fathers of the children they call their
own. And these men would have taken
care of the children for all their lives.
Now, the global statistics is 100, 000 out
of every 300, 000 men. But what we
have found that is that the situation is
higher in Nigeria than other places. For
example in our laboratory here, 50 per
cent of the cases comes out negative.
And we also realised that majority of the
first-borns are affected. You only need to
be here to see big men cry like little kids
and watch children weep in agony. It
has been that bad. And I dare say it is
becoming something every home must
do and you may be quite surprised at
the level of dastard revelation.
About thirty per cent of fathers are
unknowingly bringing up children who
are not biologically theirs. And it is
suspected that this percentage may be
on the increase due to sexual
recklessness. According to recent trends
in sexual health, especially in Nigeria, it
was suggested that unprotected sex and
multiple partners are comparatively
common occurrences with a large
proportion of conceptions still
unplanned. So, more than half, that is, 50
per cent of all paternity tests carried out
by our lab comes out negative and the
most affected are first-borns, except in a
few cases.
Do these cases happen mostly in
matrimonial settings or in casual
relationships?
In both matrimony and casual
affiliations! I tell you, we have had series
of married men come here and go back
home devastated. In one instance, a man
came here with his wife. Out of the five
children he thought were his own, he
discovered that only two belonged to
him. And they are both duly married,
living together as husband and wife. You
see, the major problem we have in our
country is that most of these cases are
not duly documented. So, people don’t
know we have such issues among us. In
fact, some even don’t know where to go
for the test to determine their child or
children’s paternity. And I tell you, if you
go to ten homes as we speak, you will be
amazed to find that in almost all of them
the children there do not belong to the
men. It is that rampant.
If it is that rampant, how would you
describe the three years since you
started testing men?
Now, the general statistics by the
American Association of Blood Banks is
that globally, 100, 000 out of 300, 000
men are not the actual fathers of their
presumed children. And like I said earlier,
the Nigerian situation is even alarming.
Also, Duess International, the condom
manufacturers, once noted that Nigeria
has the most reckless sexual life. So, you
can then imagine what the outcome
would be like if we say okay, let’s start
taking statistics one-by-one.
How many families do you attend to
each week?
We test about 15 to 20 families. People
come here as a result of various types of
controversies over the paternity of
certain children. You know, families have
come to us with claims that a child
neither takes after the mother nor the
father in looks and character. So, the
man of the house would be curious to
ascertain facts. And when they come
here with such children, the fears of the
fathers have often been affirmed.
Fathers usually have the doubts; maybe
he has been hearing some rumours, and
you know, men are often the last to hear
such things about themselves. Until
many of them come here to take the test,
they have nurtured other men’s children
before realising it.
What does it take to do a paternity
test?
Technology has made it so easy. It is just
like any other deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) test. In less than two seconds, we
take the sample from the man. We use
the Helix Swabs like a “big cotton buds”
to extract some cells from the man’s
mouth. Continue......

. We rub the ‘Swab’ up-and-down
the mouth to get some epithelial cells
from around the cheek bone. In the
nucleus of every cell, there is DNA. Once
we collect that, we purify, extract and
then multiply it and get the genetic
profile which we then send to DNA
laboratory abroad for testing.
What happens in situations where DNA
samples do not match as we saw with
someDANA victims?
So many reasons could be responsible
for that. We have had a case in which a
boy went to an hospital to claim the
body of his deceased dad and on testing
him, it was found that he was not
fathered by the dead man. The genetic
profile of the boy does not match with
that of the man he claimed to be his
father. And DNAs don’t lie. The medical
experts conducting these tests have
nothing personal against the people that
come to them for testing. Every human
being take half of the genetic profile
from either parent. Therefore, it is a
matter of case closed if the genetic
profile of the living does not match with
that of the dead man. He is simply not
that father.
Source: The Nation

[size=13pt]well hmmm, paternity test is necessary especially in our Modern Naija! we've seen instances where gate-men & house-boys impregnate the wife of most big men.. its quite unfortunate though, that's why as a man, you have to be watchful & careful about the type of woman you wanna make your wife.. even at that, you have to be very sensitive. I know of a man that this happened to, if not for God's intervention, he would have killed himself.. a wealthy man for that matter.[/size]

Its a sorry situation.
I wonder why a cheating wife cant insist on the use of condoms or other effective contraceptives, knowing the consequences;perhaps they dont give a damn.

I think we need a Nigerian version of cheaters Inc. A group of private detective who help suspecting persons monitor their spouse, to determine whether they are cheating on them or not.

Only the woman knows who the fathers of her kids are.

[size=13pt]it's not like they don't give a damn... most times, they blame it on inability of their husband to impregnate them.. but me i say it's wickedness.. Planned wickedness[/size]

An average Nigerian won‘t go for a paternity test if not as a result of doubt surrounding the fidelity of the mother. So in my opinion,the stats may actually be wrong.

I have 9 brothers. We are all married with children. Are you saying that 3 of my sisters-in-law played away games??!
Or even worse, 2 of my sisters-in-law...... AND?!