Assisted Parenthood in Nigeria: Introducing the 9ja Fertility Blawg

If you live in London and you looooove fish and seafood ( like I do!), you are very likely to already be in a relationship with Billingsgate market, a veritable fish mecca! Outside you will find the traffic light sculpture above. When intending parents think about infertility and assisted parenthood in Nigeria, I know that many feel the kind of confusion evoked by that sculpture! The pressure from friends and family can be so intense that just establishing where to start is a huge ask! Unfortunately, apart from cases where the intending parents are resident abroad, people rarely think of asking the advice of a lawyer. Until things go horribly wrong.

The 9ja Fertility Blawg was inspired by the desire to give intending parents some direction, some legal steer on the many options available. Please note that you cannot use this blawg as a replacement for getting competent legal advice in Fertility law, which is quite complex especially when it involves an international element!

Yes, that was a disclaimer!!

Nigeria has become a magnet for many in the diaspora who would like to become parents by assisted means. Part of this reputation is due to the many world class fertility clinics in the country with enviable success rates and lowers costs than comparable ones abroad. Unfortunately, there are also many unscrupulous people who capitalise on the lack of a regulatory framework and the desperation of intending parents and engage in what can only be described as human slavery and baby trafficking. Infertility is such an emotive subject that people shy away from it and are very unwilling to disclose that they achieved parenthood by assisted means. The inability to conceive is seen primarily as a woman's problem even though more than a third of Nigeria's cases of infertility are due to male factors.

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The result is that there are very few freely available and authoritative sources of information on assisted parenthood and false information is rife. Although many people are aware that adoption requires the involvement of the state and a court order, they are blissfully unaware of the legal dimension of other methods such as in vitro fertilisation involving the use of donor eggs, donor sperm and surrogates. Most of the clients I have encountered only look for a lawyer after they run into trouble: after being denied a passport or visa to take their long awaited bundle of joy abroad or when things have gone south. I keep thinking about how so much of the heartache not to talk of expense, could have been avoided if the intending parents had sought legal advice before they started!

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This blawg is designed to provide an authoritative source of information on Fertility law in Nigeria and to supplement the Oka'mara Law website. Fertility law refers to the law governing the use assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in family building. The traditional means of reproduction is a private affair between husband and wife. Assisted reproduction/parenthood involves third parties such as the fertility treatment provider, egg donor, sperm donor and /or surrogate, in addition to the intending parents/spouses. Fertility lawyers advise all the parties to assisted reproduction especially intending parents, the primary audience for this blawg. The primary concern of all intending parents is to have a baby of their own. The job of the Fertility lawyer is to advise the intending parents on the different legal requirements and processes which will allow them acquire parental rights. The key parental rights include custody of the child which includes the ability to take the child anywhere in the world, nationality and/ or residency rights, the right to name the child, etc. The Fertility lawyer's job is to help intending parents achieve all these rights by legal means and to advise them on how to limit their exposure to blackmail and the assertion of adverse parental rights to the child by the birth mother or any other persons. When there is an international dimension, for instance because the intending parents are resident abroad, very often two sets of lawyers will be required: in Nigeria (the fertility treatment country) and the intending parent's country of habitual residence where they intend to live with their child ( the home country). As a lawyer qualified to practice in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, I can offer guidance to intending parents resident in England and Wales considering fertility treatment in Nigeria as well as Nigerian residents. We also have a network of lawyers in Canada and some states in the USA.

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The key areas to be covered in this blawg include the following:

• Fertility Treatment in Nigeria: What you need to know before you go

• Identifying reputable IVF/Fertility Hospitals

• Do I really need a Fertility Lawyer?

• Using Donor Eggs and Sperm

• Acquiring Parental Rights after Surrogacy

• Choosing a Surrogate

• Managing the Surrogacy Process

• Transnational Surrogacy for Nigerians in the Diaspora

• Adoption etc.

We welcome suggestions on topics to cover and look forward to helping intending parents embark on the assisted parenthood journey armed with the right information! I am only ever an email away so don't be a stranger!

Yours always,

Undiga

The 9ja Fertility Law Maven