Surrogacy also undermines a child’s right to identity, the right to know their origins, and the right to be protected from sale and commodification. This is in violation of Articles 7 and 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Nigeria is a signatory.

In other words, establishing and preserving identity becomes impossible for children born through surrogacy. Articles 7 and 8 of the CRC protect a child’s right to: be registered at birth, preserve their identity, and re-establish their identity if they have been illegally deprived of it.

Surrogacy arrangements often violate these provisions, as the child may be denied access to information about their true origins, rendering them vulnerable to identity loss and legal limbo.

Surrogacy is dehumanising—whether or not the woman consents. Often, consent is obtained through coercion or deceit, making the entire process exploitative. Motherhood or “renting wombs”, even with consent, is inherently dehumanising, as it reduces women to mere vessels. Surrogacy aims to legalise the manipulation and commercial use of women’s wombs, involving embryo manipulation, the import and export of human embryos, embryo transfer or splitting, and the harvesting of human eggs and sperm.

Therefore, even if consent is given willingly and without external coercion, it does not legalise surrogacy.

A person cannot consent to break the law. When two people agree to do something unlawful, it is called conspiracy, which is punishable under Nigerian law. In criminal law, consent is not a valid defense unless the law specifically provides for it (e.g., in medical procedures or sports). You cannot enter a contract to violate public policy or existing law. In Nigeria, many surrogates are economically vulnerable. Their so-called “consent” is often induced by poverty, misinformation, or pressure, making the process ethically and legally questionable.

Under Nigerian law, consent to commit surrogacy does not excuse criminal liability—both parties are criminally responsible. Surrogacy agreements are unenforceable in Nigeria. Even when both the surrogate and the intending parents agree, if the act violates laws such as the TIPPEA Act, their consent becomes legally irrelevant. Consent to commit an illegal act does not make it lawful.

For example, Section 516 of the Criminal Code criminalises conspiracy to commit a felony, even if the felony has not yet been committed.

In summary: Under Nigerian law, two people cannot lawfully consent to engage in surrogacy. The law remains supreme over private agreements.

On regulation of surrogacy:
The two surrogacy bills emphasise regulation, but regulating surrogacy cannot cure the deep-rooted criminality and exploitation associated with it in Nigeria. Surrogacy is illegal and should remain so. Attempts to regulate surrogacy have failed globally to protect women and children.

Regulation would only legitimise an illegal and exploitative practice. When surrogacy involves payment for babies, benefits, misrepresentation, or coercion, it constitutes child trafficking, which is a crime under the TIPPEA Act.

You cannot regulate what is inherently criminal—it’s like trying to regulate armed robbery or fraud. The proper response is prohibition and enforcement, not regulation.

Regulation cannot ensure truly informed consent in the context of surrogacy. Instead, it would institutionalise exploitation, commodify poor women’s wombs, and reduce children to products. You can’t regulate a snake because it will still bite. You can’t regulate illegality because it will still cause harm.

Even with regulation, baby factories and human trafficking will continue in Nigeria. There are many so-called “surrogacy clinics” in Nigeria that are fronts for baby factories, exploiting women (often minors).

These are criminal enterprises masquerading as fertility centers, and no amount of paper regulation will stop them from operating in secrecy.

If surrogacy is regulated in Nigeria, it would become a cover for baby-selling and baby factories. People would continue to buy and sell babies under the guise of altruistic surrogacy.

The real challenge is enforcement, not new laws.

Nigeria already has anti-human trafficking laws, like the NAPTIP Act and the Child Rights Act, both of which outlaw surrogacy. But enforcement is almost nonexistent. Even if surrogacy is regulated: Bribery, lack of prosecution and Judicial inefficiency …will continue to allow abuse.

Regulation cannot fix surrogate-related criminality in Nigeria because the root problem is not a lack of regulation, but rather: fundamental illegality, exploitation, weak oversight and systemic abuse.

Our real challenges include:
Corruption in law enforcement and medical institutions, lack of political will, weak institutional capacity, poverty and desperation that push women into surrogacy.

Without effective law enforcement, public education, accountability mechanisms, and a strong ethical commitment to human dignity, regulation becomes a mere formality, easily circumvented by criminals.

What Nigeria needs:
Nigeria does not need surrogacy regulation. What it needs is: Strict criminal enforcement against surrogacy and baby-selling, ethical adoption and child protection frameworks, strengthened anti-trafficking enforcement, crackdown on baby factories, political will to enforce relevant provisions of the TIPPEA Act and Child Rights Act 2003, programmes to fight poverty and anti-corruption reforms in law enforcement.

Cultural and moral concerns:
Legalising surrogacy in Nigeria raises serious moral, cultural, and religious concerns, especially in our deeply conservative society. It could trigger public backlash, erode trust in legislators, and undermine social cohesion.

Therefore, the two surrogacy bills, sponsored by Hon. Uchenna Harris Okonkwo and Hon. Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala, lack merit and should be discarded.

If the sponsors must proceed…
If Hon. Uchenna Harris Okonkwo and Hon. Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala insist on proceeding with the bills, they must organise well-publicised public hearings and invite key stakeholders, including:
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Nigerian, Medical Association (NMA), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nigerian Law Society (NLS), African Bar Association (AfBA), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), as well as Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Medical Laboratory Scientists and Churches, mosques, and traditional institutions.

The bills must not be hatched or passed in secrecy.

If democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people, then the Nigerian people must be given an opportunity to contribute to the legislative process.

Beware of foreign exploitation:
Nigeria must not become a dumping ground for toxic foreign practices. Imagine homosexual couples from abroad coming to Nigeria to hire poor, desperate Nigerian girls as surrogates. Once the babies are delivered, they flee the country, leaving no protection for the women.

In some cases, babies’ organs are harvested or they are used for rituals and fetishism.

Shockingly, university girls are now selling their eggs to the highest bidder. At the University of Ibadan (UI), this practice has become so rampant that the university authorities issued a memo warning female students of the grave consequences, including potential infertility in the future.

Read the remaining part of this article on www.guardian.ng

Concluded.
Ekwowusi, a lawyer, wrote from Lagos.