Expert calls for establishment of sperm banks to tackle infertility in Nigeria
A senior lecturer with the department of Political Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Osun State, Amaka Theresa Emordi has called for the establishment of sperm banks to tackle the problem of infertility and childlessness which has forced many women especially in the Southeastern part of the country into bigamy.
According to her, Government should establish sperm banks and encourage anonymous donors of sperms and female eggs to such banks. Such legal sperm and egg banks would proffer solution to the problem of infertility and childlessness which force women into bigamy.
Speaking at the monthly lecture of the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) in Ibadan Emordi said this is necessary considering the fact that women without children particularly in the southeast are devalued and sometimes demonized.
Speaking on the topic ‘Women Bigamists in Southeast Nigeria: The Social Contradictions of the Feminist Struggles’ she insisted that “The law needs to ensure that the problem of infertility should not be a lonely road for infertile women but a problem that should be handled by both individuals which must involve (husband and wife).
The Political Scientist who said gender still constitutes one of the inherent obstacles towards the advancement of women especially in Nigeria and many developing countries despite their numerical strength posited that “There is a need for gender solidarity and collective will by the women themselves.
The guest lecturer then described Women bigamist as those women who are engaged in more than one marriage and practice of multiple marriages at the same time and successfully too, the practice she said still persists in the South Eastern states of Imo, Enugu, Anambra among others.
She spoke further saying “There is the need for aggressive advocacy to provide medical, legal and social support for women seeking to have children of their own. This is because women’s exclusion/marginalization does not occur in isolation; it is connected to other forms of legal and social exclusion.
“There should be adequate protection by the law and adequate provision for the administration of justice against dehumanizing treatment on childless women especially in the rural areas.
She however said that the law should abolish the boy child syndrome and elevate the social status of the girl through educational policy.
Infertility refers to an inability to conceive after having regular unprotected sex. Infertility can also refer to the biological inability of an individual to contribute to conception, or to a female who cannot carry a pregnancy to full term. In many countries infertility refers to a couple that has failed to conceive after 12 months of regular sexual intercourse without the use of contraception.
Studies indicate that slightly over half of all cases of infertility are a result of female conditions, while the rest are caused by either sperm disorders or unidentified factors.
Akinremi Feyisipo