A geneticist, Abiodun Salami has made shocking revelations about massive paternity fraud being perpetrated in Nigeria.
Salami, who is a senior geneticist with Lagos-based DNA Centre for Paternity Test, made the revelation in an interview published by Premium Times on Saturday.
He said that six out of 10 children whose paternity was tested at the centre were not fathered by their supposed fathers.
According to him, first borns were many times more likely to be products of paternity fraud than other children.
Salami’s revelation came to the fore few weeks after popular On-Air-Personality, Nedu revealed that his supposed first son from ex-wife Uzoamaka Ohiri was not truly his.
The revelation had taken the nation by storm, as calls for paternity test for children became more pronounced on social media.
Salami said that many Nigerians were taking more interest in DNA testing for their children for several reasons.
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He said that his centre used to conduct an average of 100 DNA tests in a month but the figure has quadrupled recently.
“The first reason is immigration purposes because when you are travelling abroad, you will be required to carry out a DNA test on the kids who would be accompanying you, especially if you say you are the parent.
“The second reason could be child trafficking. At the airport, if you are a woman and you are traveling with a child less than six months, you will be asked to go for a maternity test to confirm if you are the mother of the child..
“The third reason is a major reason – infidelity in marriage. There are so many issues online, I mean, we have read and seen cases of fathers raising children that don’t belong to them.
“It has always been like that, sincerely, but because of social media, people can now share and we know what is happening.
“People are getting to know that they can actually do DNA testing to know the father of the child, instead of raising a child for more than five, six years only to discover he is not your own.”
On cases of paternity fraud, Salami said, “The statistics are mind-blowing. You discover that almost 60 percent of the tests that people come to do are negative. In fact, 6 out of every 10 paternity tests turn out negative. Statistically, in DNA paternity testing, most times, in Nigeria, we see that six out of every 10 children might not be fathered by their biological father.”
He warned that there would be serious problems in the country should every man decide to carry out DNA test on their children.
“I always advise men, it is good to trust, but verify. Things are happening. If everyone starts doing DNA tests, the whole country will scatter. There will be no marriages again.
“Most female undergraduates now have one man or the other sponsoring their education aside from their father. These are the men that will eventually be the chairmen at their wedding.
“These are the men they are actually sleeping with. From experience in DNA testings, most firstborns are not fathered by the husbands at home, because these people have a prior relationship before getting married.
“Most times, they continue with that relationship, they don’t leave it after marriage,” Salami said.