Though underreported or overlooked in the past, the practice of baby switching in hospitals, owing to error, deliberate or malice, has been fingered as the major cause of paternity fraud, which has broken many homes and sent couples to their early graves. GBENGA AKINFENWA x-rays factors responsible for the criminal act and how the menace can be totally eradicated.

Married for 15 years, the Nwosus had lived together in the commercial city of Lagos as one indivisible family. With three kids, Uche (14), Chidinma (12) and Uchenna (eight), theirs could be described as a model home. However, a chance opportunity to relocate to Canada changed everything.
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The relocation plan, which initially elicited some sort of jubilation, eventually led to the collapse of a family that had once lived together in harmony.

It all began when they were required to conduct the necessary Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) paternity tests for the children. Surprisingly, while the first and third passed the test as children of Charles Nwosu, the second child – Chidinma’s result was negative, which translates to a case of paternity fraud.

The development, which led to infidelity accusation against the wife, sparked off serious rows between the couple. The confused wife persuaded the husband to visit another testing centre to exonerate herself, but the result was the same.

The 45-year-old husband, on several occasion, tried to know the ‘real father’ of the girl, but she always insisted she never had any extra-marital affairs.
From this discovery, the atmosphere in the house turned from good to bad and at any slightest opportunity, the husband always inflicted psychological torture on the wife. He even threatened to disgrace her if she refused to confess.
Out of shame, the wife became withdrawn and isolated herself as she couldn’t cope with the reality that stared her in the face.

Two years later, she died out of frustration. This shattered the family, especially the husband, but till her death, she maintained her stand that she didn’t engage in any extra-marital affairs.

This is one of the many instances of paternity fraud cases recorded among families in the country daily. The alarming prevalence of this troubling menace has caused untimely deaths, emotional and legal consequences, shattered homes and many more as just one DNA test could change everything for better or for worse.

Though there is no official statistics to prove the rate of paternity fraud in Nigeria, there are, however, reports that Nigeria ranks second in the world with the rate of 30 per cent, behind Jamaica, which has the highest rate of 34.6 per cent.

Paternity fraud is a form of misattributed paternity or paternal discrepancy. It is the intentional misidentification of a child’s biological father by its mother.
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On the other hand, DNA test is the use of genetic profile to determine whether an individual is the biological parent of another individual.

In Nigeria, DNA tests are usually done for many reasons, these include, immigration reasons, strong suspicion of infidelity on the part of a female partner or wife; to authenticate paternity of a child and health reasons among others.

According to available data, in Nigeria, at least four out of 10 are mere not biological fathers of their children. Experts claim that most cases are either under-reported or exaggerated because the problem lies in how the sample is collected.

Few months ago, Smart DNA – a DNA testing centre in Lagos, in a comprehensive data analysis of all relationship DNA tests, revealed that Lagos accounts for the highest percentage of tests with 82.89 per cent.

The report is based on tests conducted at its facility between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
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This report, based on thousands of users, provides an unprecedented insight into the DNA testing trends across Nigeria. The key findings showed that Lagos accounted for the highest percentage of tests, with 82.89 per cent of the total, followed by Oyo, with 3.29 per cent; Ogun 3.07 per cent, FCT 2.63 per cent and Rivers 2.41 per cent.

The report shows heavy concentration in Lagos, particularly, the Mainland with 68.14 per cent, compared to the Island, which has 31.86 per cent.

This test type, as noted in the report, suggests that individuals primarily seek DNA testing to confirm biological relationships for personal reasons rather than legal or immigration purposes.

“In most cases, the men seeking testing are the biological fathers. In more than one in four cases, the tested father is not the child’s biological father,” the report stated.

The grueling experience of these cases have led to untimely death of male or female partners, breakdown of families, identity crisis, feelings of betrayal, emotional distress and sense of insecurity among others.

The Guardian investigations showed that several factors have been fingered as reasons for the prevalence of this menace, they include financial gain, fear of stigmatisation associated with having child out of wedlock or from a previous relationship, switching of babies in hospitals and many more.
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Investigations revealed that of all these factors, babies switching, though underreported in the past, has been fingered as a major cause of paternity fraud crisis, owing to unholy practices or negligence at medical centres, especially public hospitals.

Baby switching is a practice of changing babies at birth or soon after birth, either owing to error, deliberate or malice, leading to the babies being unknowingly raised by parents who are not their biological parents.

While baby swapping is usually mutual and voluntary for both parties, baby switching is more often used to imply a hidden reason or agenda.

Though the occurrence has either been under-reported or overlooked in Nigeria in the past, but in recent years, it is becoming more commonly identified due to genealogical testing of DNA, which reveals true genetic parentage.

A nurse, based in Command area, Alimosho, Lagos State, Mrs Mujidat Adebayo, told The Guardian about the case of a couple, Mr and Mrs Adekunle, who happened to be her patients. “Both the husband and wife were very close to me since they relocated to my house after their marriage. Luckily, they had their first child – a girl, one year after their wedding.

“Unfortunately, few months after her birth, the baby started falling sick incessantly. We tried all we could but the incessant illness continued to gulp her parent’s money. When the sickness seems to be affecting the job of the mother, who was a banker, a doctor advised them to conduct medical test on the baby, to decipher her genotype for the next step of action.

“The genotype result showed that the baby was SS. The parents were shocked because it was not possible for the child to be SS when the father was AA and the mother AS. Another test was carried out from another laboratory, the result was the same.
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“After several months of investigations and consultations, it was discovered that the parents are victims of baby switching in a General Hospital, where the wife delivered. Tracing the case after two years became a herculean task because of lack of evidence. This forced the parent to accept their fate and live with the child.”

A nurse, based in Abeokuta, Ogun State (name withheld), who formerly worked in a General Hospital in the state, confirmed the widespread of the heinous practice, especially in public hospitals. “It usually happens in general hospitals. Few years back, a lady gave birth around 11:00 pm in our hospital; another woman also gave birth at the same hour. We were supposed to tag the babies immediately after they were delivered, but we didn’t, since there were only two babies, we thought we wouldn’t have any problem with identification, but somehow, we were wrong, we just gave the babies out randomly.

“It wasn’t possible for us to recognise, which is which. Some strange things usually occur in the wards, when the babies are in the cot, in the process of giving the babies to their mother, we might end up giving the wrong mother. It is common in general hospitals,” she said.

The source, gave another instance involving twin babies. According to her, one of the twins passed out immediately after delivery. “When we checked the pulse, we discovered that he has passed out. It was only one of the twins that was given to the mother and the family.

“But after one and a half hours, when the doctor for the afternoon shift resumed, because it was the doctor for the morning shift that delivered the twins, he detected from a place at the back of the hospital where they usually dump all dead children that the baby was still alive, because he was moving. They administered treatment to the baby and he responded to the treatment.

“However, there was someone who was in need of a baby; she was more like a family friend to the doctor, so, he gave the baby to her. The biological mother of the twins does not know about the existence of the baby till date.”
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Investigations showed that most times, it is always a chain-crime, as the nurses, even the doctor, security staff in the hospital collaborate to carry out the heinous act. Further investigations revealed that in isolated cases, the practice is even carried in collaboration with the mother, to get a preferred sex.

It was also gathered that the reason why this practice is thriving in public hospitals owes to congestion and lack of facilities.

A sociologist at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, Dr. Yusuf Abdulahhi, described baby switching practice as a very dangerous crime. “It is very criminal for someone to intentionally switch a baby. In some places they tend to steal the babies. Sometimes, it is only by sheer luck that the culprit can be traced. From the few cases I have heard, it appears that different motives instigate the act. The hospital staff will be suspected, sometimes, even the mother will be suspected of collaboration, the security staffs will be suspected for negligence and so on.

“The real culprits have various motives for doing this. Many-a-times, they are caught and some of them are not really bad, some of them are women of older age, which means they have been contracted to go and do the act. Some of these babies, according to my sources, are meant for rituals. So at the end of the day, all sorts of things might be suspected as the police are involved.

“There is this suspicion even to the mother of the babies for collaboration. Honestly, social causes cannot be overestimated because there are social dimension to the nasty crime. However, from my own experience, I cannot precisely describe the intensity of the crime because it is not something that is so widespread in the north.”

A lawyer, Osasu Iguisi of Iguisi Chambers, Kaduna State, who confirmed that the practice has become a common place across the country, said: “We have heard stories like that. We have heard cases of people complaining of their children being switched because they were not properly tagged. I was reading one legal authority and I discovered that in abroad, when babies are delivered, they take the blood and put labels like price tags in supermarkets.
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“The tags contain the name of the mother and fasten to the arms of the babies. But in Nigeria’s case, they don’t do such a thing. Once the child is delivered, they just go and dress the baby and dump it on the bed, before bringing the child to the mother. Because some of these nurses and other staff working with the maternity ward are not well trained, sometimes, they get confused and give the mother another person’s child. Of course, they too are fraudulent.”

Considering the havoc the development is wreaking on innocent families, Abdullahi, emphasised the need for strict vigilance and enhanced laws for culprits, because whenever the kind of crime is committed in hospitals, many people automatically becomes suspect.

“The nurses on duty, sometimes, even the doctors on duty, then the security staff in the hospital, the sub-staff, the assistant who helps in cleaning, as long as the police is concerned, they are all suspects. So, you can see how disruptive this can be. Sometimes, even the mother of the baby too is a suspect until the true culprit is caught.

“To avert this type of harassment and social disruption, there’s need to upgrade security and surveillance in our hospitals. There’s need to enhance the facilities and infrastructure such that mothers who have just delivered will be catered for, isolated and protected because if you go to some of our hospitals, the level of congestion and lack of facilities is partially one of the causes of these crimes.

“Then on the behavioural side, there’s need for people to fear God and become more honest. I know that in many cases, you will hear that they use these babies for rituals. So, whether an insider like your family member is involved or not, the offender has been contacted or contracted by someone at the end of the day, because of the poverty level in the country, there are always people who are willing to execute this type of contract. So, the fear of God is there, tackling the larger macro and micro-economic conditions in the society is there.”
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Iguisi noted that in some cases, when the mother already knows she’s going to have a female child or she has too many male children and want to have a female child, she connives with nurses and when she delivers, another person’s child will be given to her and sometimes the innocent woman whose child was switched, “when they now do DNA test, they’ll find out that the child is not for the father. The blood will not be the same with the father and even the mother. So there will be a problem.

“Sometimes, a woman delivers a child that is dead, she will connive with the nurse and they will go and give her the child that is alive from another woman to her. That is another angle. When the mother goes back home and there’s need for DNA test in the future, they would find out that the child is not theirs. It may not be the fault of the woman, this is a big problem.

“The problem is from the hospital and this scenario is very common in some hospitals. Sometimes it’s because of negligence that is, after dressing the child, they drop the child on the bed before going to give the mother. Many babies will be there; they will just grab anyone and give the mother. In this case, it is negligence but which is not deliberate or out of mischief.”

A former Director of Medical Services, Ewekoro Local Council, Dr Daniel Adewale Adesanya, who is the current Chairman, Association of Public Health Physicians in Ogun State, said the frequency of the menace has given birth to a new trend of allowing a family member to be present, while a woman is in the course of delivery.

“In the past, when a woman is in labour, her mother or the mother-in-law accompanies her to the hospital. So, immediately the woman gives birth, the child will be given to her mother while she’s being taken care of. Aside from the fact that the baby can be switched while the mother is still unconscious; there is a need to also show concern about the placenta, there have been cases of missing placentas in the past.
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“It is not advisable that when you are in labour and going to the hospital, you shouldn’t be accompanied by anybody. The modern trend in hospitals now, allows the care-giver to allow a family member to be present, while the person is taking delivery, in fact, I always prefer the husband to see the stress the wife is passing through during labour, so that he can appreciate the woman better.

“The probability of baby switching will be very low with this method. You must have a family member around; so that we do not encounter the issue of child switching as the family members must be around.”

While speaking on the legal aspect of the crime, Iguisi said the implication of babies switching is regarded as medical negligence, which is culpable in law. “There are a plethora of legal authorities in respect of this. It also applies to surgeries because of careless and wrongful application of some procedures or they forget some instrument in the womb or body of the person they are treating or they do not do it well, it becomes septic, those are medical negligence.

“In the case of deliberate or criminal exchange of children based on some kind of gratification or conspiracy between the mother that has a dead child and the nurse or those who dressed the child after birth, if there are evidence to show that the child was switched from the main mother then, it is sanctionable in law because that is another aspect.

“Some women will say that if their ultrasound result shows female and their husband is looking for male, they will ask that you help them get any male when they deliver. As soon as they deliver, the nurse will just switch the babies from the one the woman delivered to male, this is also rampant. They connive with the nurses when the mother already knows she’s going to have a female or she has too much male and want to have a female.
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“To prove this kind of case in the court will be difficult because DNA test is the only scientific way that is so persuasive to prove that the child belongs to the father. If it is done in this case, it is going to be difficult if the thing has taken place over 10 to 12 years back, to trace back to the hospital. It is going to be impossible. In advance society, the procedure is so strict that it may be one in 100 cases that they make that mistake, but in Nigeria it’s very common. ”

“How will a woman who has taken delivery of her child, go home, celebrated with the husband, then, after about 10 to 15 years, the father will be like, this child does not look like me and he seek for DNA test. How will they do it? Those people would have covered their track. When you go to the hospital they will tell you it’s your child that was given to you, unless there’s an undercover investigation in the hospital, it is going to be difficult to uncover these untoward act,” he said.

To curb the practice, he advised that the National Assembly promulgate specific laws that will address what he termed criminal negligence in the hospitals, adding that the practice of babies switching is now a big business in the country’s hospitals.

“This is why we are always talking about strong institutions, with strong leadership. What the government can do is to strengthen the medical institutions, the health institutions and then employ qualified people with stringent rules and regulations. If you are caught being negligent or found in this act of exchanging children, they should be dismissed.

“The government can also make strong penalty, make specific laws as they did to those who are pilfering Nigeria’s money with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). If they make strong laws, it will help sanitise the sector because of these families that are in pains and turmoil because of what they cannot explain.”
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