Children giving birth to children •Sachet water factories now baby factories

UNITED Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s 2013 State of the World Population report, published Wednesday, focuses on ‘Motherhood in Childhood’. It x-rays the alarming rates of girls and young women, mostly in developing countries, who continue to give birth to children while they themselves are still children.
The United Nations recognises 18 as the universal legal age of adulthood and of marriage. But about 19 per cent of young women in developing countries give birth before they are 18 years. Of these births, 90 per cent occur within marriages.
According to the UNFPA, the tragedy of adolescent motherhood is especially widespread in Africa. It reports that in Niger, 51 per cent of girls give birth before they are 18; in Zimbabwe, 20 per cent. Out of 40 countries that report more than 20 per cent of girls giving birth before 18 years of age, 70 per cent are in Africa.

The report notes that West and Central Africa have the highest levels of girls (28 per cent), now aged 20 to 24, who gave birth before they were 18. Six per cent of those gave birth before they were 15. Eastern and Southern Africa have the second highest levels (25%) of adolescent childbirth.
The World Health Organisation also reports that about 16 million girls aged between 15 and 19 years and two million girls under the age of 15 give birth every year.
A grimmer picture of this reality for Nigeria particularly was recently painted by the National Population Commission (NPC), which disclosed that 50,000 teenage girls die yearly in Nigeria due to early pregnancy.

The former Chairman of the commission, Mr. Festus Odimegwu, made the rather frightening disclosure weeks ago as he prepared to usher in this year’s World Population Day, themed ‘Adolescent Pregnancy’.
Odimegwu also noted that one out of five girls in the country gives birth by the age of 18. He listed the reasons for the increasing incidence of teenage pregnancy to include poverty and sexual abuse.
But as contestable as some may consider Odumegwu’s disclosure, independent findings by Saturday Tribune suggest that the statement may not be far from the truth. Recently, one of these reporters spoke with two girls in Lagos who became ‘mothers’ when they were barely 17 years old.
Laide Sumonu, a resident of Ojo, in Lagos, told Saturday Tribune in a chat that like any other young ladies, she had plans for her future before she was ‘made a woman’ by an equally young man who was just a few years older.

Clutching her baby to her chest, Laide said she had no idea her escapade would result in a baby. She felt it was okay for her to have a boyfriend as many of her age mates already had; some even had more than one.
“I had a couple of friends who already had boyfriends, but I didn’t have any. I was quick to associate this to the fact that those friends of mine reached puberty faster than I did. Because they already had some physical attributes which I didn’t have, it was easy for boys to flock to them,” she said.
She further disclosed that very often, she would listen with rapt attention as her friends narrated their ‘latest escapades’ with their boyfriends.
“The more I listened to them, the more I wanted to experience what I felt they were enjoying. So, when I eventually had a boyfriend, it wasn’t too difficult for my friends to convince me to go all the way with him. Eventually, I did, and it resulted in a pregnancy,” she stated, with some glint of regret in her eyes.
 
Seventeen-year-old Tamara Okenwa’s story is somewhat different from Laide’s. Tamara, a resident of Egbeda area of Lagos, said the man who impregnated her (almost twice her age) deceived her with gifts and attention; that she caved in because no one had ever shown her so much ‘attention and care.’
“The man was always showering me with lots of gifts and attention. He said he would take care of me no matter what happened. I thought he was sincere, so I started visiting him. He made me happy; especially since the people I was living with, who were not my parents, never really cared about me. But he changed totally the moment I told him I was pregnant,” she told Saturday Tribune.
Tamara now lives with her biological parents with her five-month-old daughter. The man who got her pregnant, despite his promise to perform his duties as the baby’s father, has refused to have anything to do with her.

Why the trend is on the rise
Experts from around the world have attributed teenage pregnancy and adolescent births to three factors: poverty, poor education and increasing rural population.
These explain, to a large extent, why young pregnant girls or nursing mothers seem to be found more in rural communities and villages.
Similarly, for those residing in urban centres and cities such as Lagos, teenage pregnancy has been observed to be prevalent more among those living in the slums as well as the less-developed hinterlands.
Bimbola Odu of the Department of Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Ado-Ekiti, believes that child bearing among teenagers has increased in recent years because their behaviour “is inevitably a reflection of certain adult social life.
“Adults are direct models for teenagers and sexual stereotypes are reinforced by the human behaviour that teenagers experience at home in particular, at school, on television, in books and in the society at large.

“It is generally portrayed and accepted by both sexes that girls are expected to become mothers, and thus it is assumed that this is what they wish; but most teenagers who have children have limited education, limited job opportunities and limited choices for the future and a high degree of dependency,” Odu noted.
However, the sad tale of teenage pregnancy may not end anytime soon as experts say the population of young people in Nigeria is expected to increase from the current 44.5 million to 60 million by the end of 2015.
This expected increase, according to experts, will be due to early marriages, early sexual exposure and pregnancy, which will be aided by poor health services.

Health implication of early motherhood
Odimegwu had noted that teenage girls were at risk of sexual and reproductive health problems. He also considered the teenage maternal mortality rate of 0.822 per 1,000 women in Nigeria as high.
This disclosure was corroborated by a medical report that was made available to Saturday Tribune, which noted that babies were 60 per cent more likely to die if their mothers were less than 18 years.
In his own remarks, a Lagos-based Consultant Obstetrician, Dr Odunewu Adokoya, listed the negative impacts of teenage pregnancy as unsafe abortion, pregnancy complications, poor antenatal care, weak pelvic bones, high fertility rate, among others.
“This is because teenage pregnancies are, in most cases, unplanned and therefore not likely to receive antenatal care. Not only does teenage pregnancy impose severe health and psychological strains on the baby and teen mothers; it also has long-term negative effect on sustainable development efforts meant to transform the society,” he noted.
Apart from health-related effects, experts believe that teenage pregnancy compromises genuine efforts to promote gender equality, education attainment, family value and economic development.
There is also the problem of ignominy, alienation and a sense of lack of belonging that is attached to teenage pregnancy. This is in addition to an abrupt end or disruption of education that often comes with it.
For teenagers, it is said that mistimed pregnancy could be a major ‘catastrophe.’ Such pregnancies almost always mean the end of formal schooling or training and restriction to future opportunities to improve their status. This is because it is usually difficult for teenage mothers who were forced out of school by pregnancies to return to school.

Teenagers and ‘baby factories’
Teenage pregnancy is by no means peculiar to any tribe or region; but there is a whole new development to this that seems, for some time now, to be gaining more currency in certain regions of the country than others.
In Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states (which make up the core Igboland), underage girls have been caught in what have been infamously tagged ‘baby factories’ – where these teenagers are kept (often against their will) for the purpose of making them produce babies that are subsequently sold after delivery.
At the moment, it is said that Abia and Imo states have the highest number of such illegal homes in the country. Areas designated for selling of packaged water (popularly called pure water) are now being converted to selling of babies.
For instance, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NCSDC) in Abia State recently raided a suspected baby-selling maternity home at Umuzuo, Osisioma Local Government Area of the state. It also rescued 32 pregnant teenagers in the process.
The NSCDC Public Relations Officer in the state, Victor Ogbonna, disclosed this when he paraded the pregnant teenagers rescued from the home before reporters in Umuahia.
Ogbonna gave the name of the proprietor of the centre as Nnenna Mba, and two other men – Mba Agbai and Chinwoke Mba.
The NSCDC image maker said that the victims were induced to sell a baby boy for N100, 000, while a girl goes for N80,000.

One other ugly dimension that seems to have continued encouraging teenage pregnancy is the assistance given to these girls by some motherless babies homes.
For instance, Mba, a proprietor of a social centre in Abia State, told security operatives during a raid of his home that the centre, which was officially registered with the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, was meant to assist pregnant teenagers.
Apparently ignorant of what she was really into, one of the teenage girls seen at the entrance of the building said, “Our madam (Mrs. Mba) is detained in Umuahia by men of Civil Defence.
She is innocent, as she only assists childless couples from Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt by selling male and female babies at an agreed fee. Thus she settles the mother of the baby and takes the balance of the money.”
She was even cocksure that her madam would soon be released by the security agents, as, according to her, this was not the first time she had been arrested.
“They will release her to continue her service,” she said.
According to her, “visitors are not allowed into this building. Only clients who come for business or teenage girls who desire to sell their babies to prospective buyers are welcome.”
One of such ‘baby factories’ on Nicholas Street, Aba, Abia State, was run by a medical doctor who gave his name simply as Dr. Orikara, along with a nurse. Another one, Double Research Clinic and Laboratory at Iheoji Mgboko (in Obingwa Local Government Area), was run by one Onyemachi who claimed to be a laboratory scientist.

Ostensibly, such homes are to provide prospective parents or individuals who desire to adopt children avenues to do so. The girls are given ‘mouth-watering’ offers, including cash. They are given the assurance that after the baby is born, they will be able to carry on with their normal life.
But at the end of the day, they are given amounts ranging from N10,000 to N15,000. The babies are then sold off for N300,000 or N400,000 depending on the gender of the babies (males usually fetch a higher price).
Further checks revealed that many girls lose their lives in the process of childbearing due to unprofessional handling. A proprietress of such homes, who is in custody of law enforcement agents, confessed that since she started her home, she had sold up to 18 babies.
But is it possible for a mother to go through nine months of pregnancy, give birth to the baby, breastfeed it and willingly give same away for a pittance?

Mrs. Christy Oka, a mother herself and a psychologist, says: “Some people say if you have a baby and have not breast-fed it, you don’t feel any attachment; that giving him up therefore would not be a difficult task to achieve. But I say that is an absolute lie. It is not possible for any woman, psychologically, emotionally or physically to let go of her baby in that manner with no reaction whatsoever. Except in some cases where it is premeditated and the mother is cold-hearted. But in the case of these girls, it could be naivety. Poverty could also be a factor to make young girls behave in such a manner.”

A medical practitioner, Dr Okoro Nwigwe, opined that girls who are victims of early pregnancy are very difficult to control.
The spokesperson for the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), Mr. Arinze Orakuwe, disclosed that over time, they had met with stakeholders in the South-South and South-East to review adoption laws and strengthen oversight functions.
“We believe that if the ministry’s responsibilities extend to social welfare and if adoption law and procedures are available, people will go through them rather than engage in such fraudulent practices,” Orakwue added.
Another factor that encourages such illegal acts, he said, was the general preference for male children.

Fighting the scourge
Experts believe that the surest way to reduce teenage pregnancy is for the government to address adolescent poverty, sexual abuse and ignorance. The government has also been urged to give severe penalties against perpetrators of any act tantamount to sexual abuse in order to instill fear in others.
It has also been suggested that the government should invest in adolescent skills acquisition and job opportunities for self-reliance.

Another Guidance and Counselling expert, who is also from the University of Ado-Ekiti, Ayodele Christian, recommended that parents, schools and other agents of socialisation should provide for teenagers facts and information at early and appropriate age regarding their sexual functioning and the consequences of sexual activity.
“This must be reliably and sensitively given from a sound and confident source,” he noted.