Nigeria Fertility Rates

By

Tatiana Askoak

George Guthridge

Associate Professor

University of Alaska Fairbanks

The fertility rates in Nigeria are high because of Nigerian resistance toward family planning. Strangely, African maternal mortality rates are also the highest in the world.

Nigeria, on the South Atlantic coast is one of the typical rural-based countries of Africa. It is generally lower in terms of education and income when compared to the rest of the world. Nigeria is also one of the leading populated countries of Africa with one-fourth of the Sub-Saharan African population. The country has contributed greatly to Africa's fertility rise and the continent as a whole claims up to twelve percent of the world's population, which is comparable to its nine percent population density in 1950 (Caldwell, 1990, 118)

Many researchers connect Africa's economical and educational standings to the continents high fertility rates. However, this hypothesis was proven wrong by a comparison study done on the two continents of Africa and Asia. Both had similar social and economic numbers, but today Asia's economy has grown more than Africa's, and Asia's fertility rates have declined more than a third since the 1980s. As a result of these studies many researchers now say that the reason for high fertility rates in the world is among the lifestyles of the people. Nigerian lifestyle is commonly rural and less industrialized than that of the rest of the world (Caldwell, 1990, 118).

Not surprisingly, the introduction of family planning to African countries such as Nigeria started out slowly. At a world population conference in Bucharest in 1974, most African governments cautiously took direction toward national population programs. Only a few countries supported such programs; Nigeria was not among them. Ten years later, at a conference in Mexico City, most African Nations supported family planning. The Nigerian government set president and now encourages women to limit themselves to four children; other countries throughout the continent are doing likewise (Caldwell, 1990, 123).

Although Nigeria was one of the first to try directly controlling the number of children a couple should have, it is still struggling with family planning. Like most African governments, the Nigerian government is a little apprehensive to create a population control program, much less one similar to China's. This is due to their fear of inflicting on the views of fertility issues. Nigerian views are somewhat different; they are centered on beliefs and religious practices that are strange to the modernized world (Caldwell, 1990, 121).

Nigerian culture includes many myths, rituals, and herbal uses to regulate women’s fertility. Unfortunately, much of their techniques aren’t effective. For example, one ritual tool still used today is the "teso." This object, made of red feathers, is believed to prevent any man to have sexual intercourse with a girl until the spell is removed. Another Nigerian belief, that sex during menstruation will turn people into albinos, will actually increase the chances of pregnancy. The menstruation seems to be the center of numerous other beliefs in the Nigerian culture. Many tribes believe that a woman should not cook for or sleep with their husband while menstruating because she could take away his powers (Keller, 1996,1)

Much of the beliefs like these are a result of the African religion. The African high gods tend to be concerned with the fertility of both humans and crops. This leads to the belief that a woman who has many children is virtuous, while any woman who is childless is considered evil (Caldwell, 1990, 121).

In southwest Nigeria a deceased barren woman is buried during the night at an inferior place, with only a few female relatives present. In fact, most barren women in Africa are treated with disrespect and often with violent fear. They are usually sent back to their families and then away to live beyond the village. The barren women live in isolation because most villagers believe that they are witches with the powers to kill children and pregnant mothers (Caldwell, 1990, 124).

Sadly, a woman who dies childless has not fulfilled her life because she is often considered the sexual property of her husband and providing him with children is her main job. These women are called nodegbe in the Bini language of Nigeria. It translates to "one who has fallen in the family" (IRRAG-Nigeria, 1998), which is fitting because Africans generally follow a social system of lineage. The lineage of the family is a person’s true spiritual home and afterlife. This implies that if the lineage dies, so does the family and all the descendants (Caldwell, 1990, 121).

Because lineage is so important to the Africans, most want larger families compared to other places in the developing world where many women are content with four children. African men also want larger families. This is due to their belief that many wives and children are a source of wealth. They follow a social system of lineage or clan land where there is no ownership of land or tools. It is the larger family with the most workers that prospers in an agricultural community. As a result, African families are two times larger than families in the poorest Asian or Latin American countries (Caldwell, 1990, 121).

Obviously, modern uses of sterilization and fertilization are rarely used. In fact, only one-ninth of the couples in Nigeria use birth control, but only after reaching their desired family size. The other eight-ninths of Nigerian couples us birth control to prevent premarital or extramarital conception. Unfortunately, many Nigerian women do not have the choice of using birth control if their husbands are against it. The choice of family size is commonly considered the sole decision of the husband’s. In Ibadan, Nigeria one hundred woman were surveyed about their role in the home. Not one woman believed that she had any say in the childbearing decision. This belief was also held among the educated and working class women (Caldwell, 1990, 118, 120, 124)

Because many couples marry and start a family at such a young age, the separation rates are high. Many women enter marriage expecting that their husband will eventually take on other wives, resulting in a weakened emotional marriage bond. In fact Africa’s levels of polygamy are ten times as high as those typical is Asia’s typical "polygamous" societies. (Caldwell, 1990, 120) The polygamous culture is very prominent in Nigeria and often results in one child having many siblings, including ones with a different mother (IRRAG-Nigeria, 1998).

Ironically, Africa as a continent also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world because many women have children until they are physically unable to. One out of seven women die from pregnancy. This may also be a cause of poorer health conditions and fewer medical facilities than the rest of the world.

Another factor is their beliefs. Many women would rather go through labor alone because it is shameful if they don’t. The only time a pregnant woman does get clinical help is when she has been in labor for a long time and is having trouble. Usually it is too late to help her (Carolyn Fishel Sargent, 1982, 151). In the future, hopefully the attempts to stabilize African mortality and fertility will be successful.

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