By Ugoji Egbujo
Obnoxious evil can pass by you unrecognized. A loved relation was brutally dispossessed by death, not once, twice. He lost his sons in succession and mysteriously. A good natured and cultured man was crushed by fate. Igbo custom and cold hands of death left him supposedly ‘heirless’ even though I have wonderful female cousins , his daughters. An ageless, discriminatory and oppressive tradition pushed my aged uncle in search of a heir, so late in his day. For him and many others , to die without a son not only leaves one to be inherited by ‘not his own’ but ensures the ‘obliteration of a lineage.’

Fortunately Igbo culture , so conscious of blood, has room for adoption. But adoption in Nigeria is such a tedious and messy business. Rickety bureaucracy invites a black market. The ignorant poor is consequently made vulnerable prey of the soulless.

When he opted for adoption , relief spread around because his predicament and his perception of its consequences had kept many hearts heavy. But twice he has been duped . Twice, hundreds of thousands of naira have been flushed down the filthy gullets of charity workers who on a closer inspection are members of baby trafficking syndicates. After a prior deposit , he was told his adoption papers will be processed once the baby was born. Baby was born, he completed the fee . Baby died a few days later of neonatal jaundice, so he was told. On a second attempt at what he believed to be a genuine adoption process , he lost the money he had paid because the police raided the ‘maternity’ and arrested everyone. Local government officials and a lawyer had introduced him to the orphanage whose proprietor ran the maternity. They convinced of the genuineness of the process and boasted of having helped many others. But, look at it!

Another relation who lives abroad was luckier, ‘adopted’ and took away a 4 day old boy. The adoption was regularized, he got genuine papers . But the fact of success doesn’t make it a materially different moral engagement. It only shows that that the line between adoption and baby trafficking has become dangerously blurred. And is perhaps made more fuzzy by desperation and poor regulation. He has his house full of daughters , yet he remained desperate for a son.

The enterprise continues to flourish and the government continues playing to the gallery with their bulldozers. There is a social problem begging to be solved. The government must firstly address the underlying issues that generate the appetite so that the demand pressure is reduced. Outdated cultural practices that further gender discrimination and handicap the “sonless” must be pruned. Adoption processes and procedures can be smoothened. Then secondly, the government must provide the needed legal infrastructure to regulate and supervise surrogacy .

The supreme court has ruled that any practice that forbids women from inheriting is discriminatory and illegal. But some cultures will not let women inherit ancestral lands. And patriarchy will keep demand for sons very high. But since Igbos have town unions that can effect significant cultural changes, you have to wonder why such a debilitating and retrogressive inheritance custom has not been modified in the southeast. State governments must seek to influence such cultures.

And for those who must have a son or no life, there is hope. In some jurisdictions, sex selection through the in -vitro fertilization (IVF) technique is permitted to meet the need of sex balancing. So after one or two daughters you can use IVF and get a son while your wife is still young and before your house becomes too full.

We have adoption laws. The public doesn’t know much about them. Couples seeking to adopt are left in the hands of profiteers in government officials who have made adoption unnecessarily cumbersome and prohibitive. The relevant government officials see adoption, even formal adoption, as lucrative business. If we free our adoption processes of tardiness and corruption, we will contain , to some extent , the sprouting of baby factories.

The practice of surrogacy is not as morally messy as the sordid stories of baby factories tend to paint it . But surrogacy will always be fraught with moral complications. To avoid moral entanglements many countries prohibit surrogacy altogether and in many others altruistic surrogacy only is permitted. Commercial surrogacy, where a surrogacy contract allows the surrogate to earn a fee, is permitted in some states in the USA, and in India, Russia, Ukraine amongst others. India has become the surrogacy capital of the world and their medical tourism industry has been boosted by foreign couples pouring in to rent wombs. Cost disparity and ready availability of surrogates in many indian fertility clinics and hostels have ensured that couples opt for India where surrogacy costs are less than half of the cost in the US .

Despite the booming surrogacy business in India , the laws are still weak and ethical and legal issues of citizenship, parentage and contractual obligations continue to dog the transactions. Many have suggested that only an international convention on surrogacy can alleviate the myriad of ethical and legal issues by universalizing rights and obligations in what has become an international business. In some disputed cases babies have been left stateless.

Surrogacy laws don’t exist in Nigeria and no one cares to enact them and regulate the practice. So illegal surrogacy black markets continue to thrive remorselessly. While it may be difficult to label these factories as surrogacy enterprises, it’s not difficult to see that some of their clients would have opted for proper surrogacy if any was legitimized and clarified. And many of the exploited poor women would benefit immensely form some sanitization of the morality of the endeavour. When an activity is driven underground it is handed over to the underworld.

With clear guidelines and close supervision, and with help of artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, the childless and the ‘heirless’ can get fairly clean help. We can start with altruistic surrogacy if our religiousity will prove an impediment to a foray into the indian example. Surrogate mothers can get compensation for pain and discomfort of pregnancy and loss of earning as it obtains in the UK where commercial surrogacy is prohibited. We can insist that only women who have had children and have completed their own families can take part so that teenage pregnancies are not encouraged. Surrogacy centers will be licensed and only married childless couples can qualify as intended parents. So the participation of ritualists can be controlled.

Commercial surrogacy proponents however argue that poor women can help other childless women by renting their wombs. And that remuneration may help poor women to feed and send their children to school. If whole persons can be hired to work in factories then why can’t poor women earn through gestational surrogacy? The world will be a happier place, the society benefits all round.

All we really need in Nigeria is proper regulation so that most of the morally repugnant aspects are curtailed and criminals and profiteers are not left to exploit people.

We can definitely do more than bulldozing and lynching.