From Prayer Mountains to DNA Labs: Paternity Test Report Exposes Another Threat to Nigerian Marriages
From Prayer Mountains to DNA Labs: Paternity Test Report Exposes Another Threat to Nigerian Marriages
By Akin Alade
For many Nigerian couples struggling to have children, the journey to parenthood can become an emotional and spiritual battle. Some move from hospitals to fertility clinics, churches, prayer mountains and traditional or spiritual centres, desperately searching for the blessing of a child.
That is why the latest paternity-testing figures from Smart DNA Nigeria are likely to provoke another difficult conversation about trust, fidelity, biological parentage and the stability of marriages.
According to Smart DNA Nigeria’s 2025/2026 Annual DNA Testing Report, 23.6 per cent of paternity tests conducted by the laboratory returned negative results, meaning the tested man was excluded as the biological father. The rate was slightly lower than 24 per cent in the previous reporting period and 26.1 per cent in 2023.
But there is an important qualification: the figure does not mean that nearly one in four Nigerian fathers is raising another man’s child.
Smart DNA specifically warned against such an interpretation because its clients are not a random sample of Nigerian families. Many people who approach the laboratory already have questions or doubts about biological parentage.
When the Long-Awaited Child Becomes Centre of a Crisis
The emotional significance of the report becomes even clearer when viewed against the lengths some couples go to in their search for children.
There are homes where couples have spent years praying, fasting, seeking medical treatment and spending substantial amounts on fertility interventions before welcoming a child.
In such circumstances, discovering years later through DNA testing that the man who believed himself to be the biological father is not can produce a devastating family crisis.
The consequences can go far beyond an argument between husband and wife. Questions of trust, betrayal, identity, inheritance and family relationships can suddenly emerge.
The latest report itself highlights this danger, warning that negative paternity results can expose children to rejection, confusion and emotional distress, particularly when the discovery contributes to the breakdown of their parents’ relationship.
87% Seeking DNA Tests for ‘Peace of Mind’
Perhaps one of the most revealing findings is why people are undergoing the tests.
According to Smart DNA, 87 per cent of tests were classified as “Peace of Mind” tests—private tests initiated primarily to obtain certainty about biological relationships rather than because of court proceedings or immigration requirements.
Men also accounted for 78.6 per cent of first contacts with the laboratory, while men aged 41 and above constituted 48 per cent of classified male records.
This suggests that behind many DNA appointments are deeply personal questions that individuals feel can no longer be settled through assurances, resemblance or family explanations.
Science is increasingly becoming the final arbiter.
From Spiritual Search to Scientific Certainty
Nigeria is a deeply religious society, and infertility can sometimes push couples towards intense spiritual intervention alongside—or occasionally instead of—medical care.
However, fertility and biological parentage are fundamentally medical and scientific questions. Couples experiencing difficulty conceiving should seek qualified medical assessment, while DNA testing provides a scientific means of determining biological parentage.
Faith may provide hope, strength and emotional support, but suspicion surrounding paternity should not be allowed to grow through rumours, accusations or spiritual claims when a reliable scientific test can provide clarity.
The Smart DNA report shows that Nigerians are increasingly choosing that certainty.
Paternity Discovery Can Break a Marriage
One of the most serious consequences of disputed paternity is its potential to destroy trust.
A marriage can survive financial difficulties and other challenges, but rebuilding trust after a revelation about biological parentage can be extraordinarily difficult.
Previous reporting on paternity disputes in Nigeria has highlighted possible consequences involving emotional trauma, marriage breakdown, inheritance disagreements and disruption of the relationship between a father and the child he has raised.
Yet children must not become victims of conflicts created by adults.
Whatever a DNA result reveals, a child who has grown up knowing someone as father deserves compassion and protection. The emotional relationship built over years cannot simply be treated as though it never existed.
DNA Before Marriage? The Conversation May Grow
The latest statistics may renew calls for greater openness about reproductive health, premarital counselling and responsible use of DNA testing.
However, mandatory testing raises ethical, privacy and legal questions. What appears more immediately important is creating a culture in which couples can discuss fertility, fidelity and parentage without stigma while seeking professional medical or counselling assistance when problems arise.
The report also provides an important counterweight to sensational headlines: more than three out of every four men tested were confirmed as the biological fathers. Smart DNA itself has urged Nigerians to pay attention to that side of the statistics.
Protecting Marriage Through Truth and Trust
The lesson from the latest paternity report should therefore not become an excuse to attack Nigerian women, encourage indiscriminate suspicion or turn every family resemblance into a DNA investigation.
Instead, it should encourage conversations about faithfulness, honesty, responsible parenthood, communication and trust in marriage.
For couples who have travelled from hospitals to prayer centres searching desperately for a child, parenthood can represent the fulfilment of years of hope. That makes honesty surrounding biological parentage even more important.
DNA technology is making secrets about biological relationships increasingly difficult to hide.
And when the truth eventually emerges, the greatest casualty may not be the DNA result itself—it may be the trust upon which an entire marriage and family were built.
