Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The President of the Association for Fertility and Reproductive Health (AFRH), Prof. Preye Fiebai, has issued a stark warning to fertility clinics across the country, urging them to immediately cease the practice of transferring multiple embryos during In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedures. In a press briefing on June 6, 2026, Prof. Fiebai, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, highlighted the alarming rise in higher‑order multiple pregnancies—triplets, quadruplets, and beyond—which he attributed directly to the unregulated transfer of as many as six or seven embryos in a single cycle. He noted that some clinics are transferring six or seven embryos in a single IVF cycle as a misguided measure to prevent procedure failure, a trend he says is celebrated in some quarters. The AFRH president called for a strict legislative limit on embryo transfers, ideally to one or a maximum of two per cycle. He decried the proliferation of unqualified practitioners and the absence of a national regulatory framework for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in Nigeria. “In other places, the recognition of the challenges with higher‑order multiple births has resulted in regulation, and the trend now is towards single elective embryo transfer. But in Nigeria, you hear of cases of people transferring six, seven, and it is even celebrated,” Prof. Fiebai told PUNCH Healthwise. He contrasted Nigeria’s situation with that of developed countries, where elective single embryo transfer (eSET) has become the norm. He argued that Nigeria urgently needs legislation to govern ART practices, and he called for the reclassification of clomiphene citrate, a fertility drug currently sold freely over the counter, to a prescription‑only medication. He insisted that only properly qualified specialists should be authorised to provide ART services in the country.
Prof. Fiebai pointed to a grim reality: five pregnant women who delivered higher‑order multiple births have died just days after delivery since the beginning of the year. This tragedy unfolds against a backdrop of Nigeria already accounting for 34 per cent of the global maternal mortality rate. The risks, he explained, are not confined to the mother. “Not only for the mother, but for the baby, because the chances of such babies surviving are extremely low, much lower than if you had one or two. The complications of pregnancy and the neonatal complications are more than three times higher in women who have twins. Not to talk of triplets or quadruplets,” Prof. Fiebai said. He described a disturbing pattern where women, often after a seemingly successful caesarean section, die suddenly two or three days later. “This has been recorded worldwide. That is why we need to be extremely careful how we go about transferring embryos. And as much as possible, limit it to no more than two, unless the consequences are beyond our control,” he added. He cited a study that reviewed 1,150 births over three years, showing an increase in higher‑order multiples from less than 0.3 per cent in 2013 to about 0.7 per cent in 2017.
Experts also attributed the surge to the unsupervised use of ovulation‑inducing drugs. Prof. Christopher Aimakhu, Second Vice President of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON), explained that these drugs increase the number of eggs released, raising the chances of multiple fertilisations and pregnancies. The AFRH currently operates guidelines that restrict clinics to transferring no more than three embryos per cycle, but enforcement is limited, and compliance is poor. In Lagos State, which has adopted the AFRH’s ART guidelines, a suspension can be issued for violations, but no such legislation exists at the federal level or in most other states.
The human cost of these unregulated practices is devastating. In February 2026, a woman, Charity Anani, delivered quadruplets in Lagos but later died on April 3 from breathing complications. In March, Hafsatu Yusuf delivered quintuplets in Kano but died shortly after. Another case saw an Ogun State housewife, Mufiat Olateju, give birth to quadruplets, while a registrar at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ere Ogbachi, died after complications from delivering triplets. These tragic incidents, while some may be natural, are increasingly linked to ART and the misuse of fertility drugs. The authorities have not yet issued a federal response to the AFRH president’s call for urgent legislation. The race is on to regulate an industry that has, for too long, operated in a dangerous vacuum, exposing mothers and babies to preventable risks.
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