It is almost a sin for a married woman not to have a child in Nigeria. She is scorned by her in-laws, society, and worse still fellow women.
Though findings have shown that men are as responsible for infertility as women, women are often treated as being the cause of the issue and many have been subjected to harsh treatment from their spouses.
Tunde Ajaja in his Travails of the childless wife… published by PUNCH on 23 July 2016 told a story:
“In the company of her only son, Ms. Funmilola, 37, walked the length of the recreation park before settling into one of the benches at the extreme. With her dark sunglasses on, she tried as much as possible to seclude herself from the merrymaking that had rented the atmosphere.
It was a public holiday, and understandably, many fun seekers, comprising women, men, and children had trooped into the park to have a good time. They all seemed to be having fun, except the single mother of one who sat quietly, cuddling the boy, whom she had recently adopted. The three-year-old munched the biscuit in his hands in a guileless manner as if there was nothing in sight to worry about.
Funmilola has virtually become a recluse following the painful experience she had in her marriage of 11 years before her husband finally sent her packing, simply because she could not conceive…” It is a familiar story for many women in Nigeria and one can only imagine what it was like for Chidinma Amaechi before providence smiled on her.
After nine years of being unable to conceive a child, the Amaechis certainly never expected five children in one single birth but that was what happened.
It was a rain of three boys and two girls at a go!
28-year-old, Chidinma Amaechi gave birth to the quintuplets through a caesarian section on Thursday night at Awka, the Anambra State capital.
Mrs. Amaechi, who finished her National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in July 2022, is married to an Onitsha-based small-time trader, Tochukwu Amaechi.
The couple has called on the government, Nigerians, and other well-meaning individuals to assist them offset the over N7.5 million hospital bill.
Speaking to journalists at the hospital, the woman’s elder sister, Ebele Oranekwu, said the bill for the incubators is N250,000 per day.
She disclosed that the babies, who are currently in the intensive care unit of the hospital, are expected to be there for about 30 days.
“This bill amounted to about N7.5 million aside from other huge bills already accumulated in the past two months of managing the delicate pregnancy at the hospital.
“We are therefore calling on philanthropists, governments, and non-governmental organisations to come to our aid to enable us to offset the huge medical bills so we can reap the full benefits of God’s blessings upon our family,” Oranekwu said.
