Family Values and the Emergence of Baby Factory in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), reported Nigeria as one of the leaders in human trafficking among African countries. While the campaign against human trafficking in gaining ground and yielding positive results in Nigeria, there emerges another form of trafficking called “baby factories” through the use of deceit, undue influence, kidnapping and abduction etc. by illegal imprisonment of pregnant teenage girls or getting them pregnant for the sole purpose of giving birth of babies for sale or other purposes. This paper is an exploratory research on the family values and the emergence of baby factory in South Western, Nigeria. Using Robert K Merton anomie theory as the explanatory framework, the paper suggests that it is the socio-cultural pressure on married couples to have children as well as the perceived sigma associated with childlessness that gave ruse to the emergency of baby-factories in South Western, Nigeria. The paper recommends among other things the enactment of appropriate legislation, re-examine programs addressing poverty and illiteracy in Nigeria, enlightenment campaigns to ease stigmatization associated with childlessness, controlling the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) by establishing more centers and providing for IVF-coverage in health insurance plans.