By Helen Ovbiagele

Lagos has always been a trailblazer in many things.  Maybe it has to do with the city being the seat of government for the nation for many decades, and even now, it remains the nation’s foremost commercial city, and the most cosmopolitan, catering for all ethnic groups and all religions.  From time to time, since Lagos State was created, it has had  what we call ‘action governors’, and enacted laws that are people-friendly.

I’m particularly impressed by the steps Lagos State has been taking to promote the cause of women and young people.

The former first lady of  the state, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, started Children’s Parliament, a laudable venture which sensitised, and continues to sensitize  school children on what governance is all about. Her New Era Foundation, among other women-slanted activities, organised a workshop on grassroot participation in politics and the challenges of democratisation in Nigeria.

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire,  did a lot for women and youths when she was the Commissioner for Women & Poverty Alleviation, through  vocational skills acquisition courses, holiday courses,  loans to business women, etc., and it was during her tenure that a refuge for battered women was established in the state, complementing the efforts of  Mrs. Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, whose NGO, PROJECT ALERT,  has been running a shelter for battered women in Lagos for years.

The wife of  His Excellency Babatunde Fashola,  the current ‘action governor’ of  Lagos State, Dame Abimbola Fashola, is an action lady herself, who from the first tenure of  her husband, has been very involved in ‘growing young people’, and continues to organise activities which will give our young people a life.  These are all ‘one up’ for Lagos State.

So far, Lagos State is working; Fashola is working; and this is much more than can be said of many other states in the federation, so, we say, ‘more power to your elbow’.

However, I was jolted last week by the headline ‘Fashola signs law against abandoned pregnancies’.  Hey, this is big!  This is something!

We do hear of  a large number of  men (husbands, boyfriends, wayfarers, etc.) who abandon their women, either while these are pregnant  for them, or have given birth; more especially when multiple births take place.  Some of these men, plagued by their conscience may return to try to shoulder their responsibilities, while some vanish and evaporate into thin air forever.

We can imagine the fate of the children whose fathers abandon them, particularly among the masses where the man is supposed to be the breadwinner in the home.

Apart from deprivation of the very basic needs of  life, which leads to their being raised in squalor, many of them get shoved unto the streets, or, they take to the streets at an early age, going to sleep under bridges, in uncompleted houses and market places, exposed to danger.  Many are recruited into hard core vices, and they become a threat to the society.

Of course, we’re aware that children from a stable two-parent family can also get sucked into a life of criminal activities, for one reason or the other.

But anything that can be done legally to ensure that men don’t abandon their pregnant partners and their children, is very welcome.

So, on the surface, this bill sounds useful.  The news item on page 7 of Vanguard of Tuesday, August 9, 2011, went thus, ‘Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, signed a bill into law, which allows for the prosecution and jailing of any man who impregnates and deserts any woman.

There’s no doubt about the good intention of the bill, but I expect that the government will embark on a serious and credible public awareness campaign about its contents so that people can understand it.

For example, what category of  man is to be prosecuted and jailed?  The married man, the regular boyfriend, or the one night stand, since pregnancy can occur when not prevented.

To avoid the situation where the wrong man is jailed for abandoning a pregnant woman,  there should be free and easy access locally, to DNA tests.  This is because if the pregnant woman is not married to the man she claims is responsible for the pregnancy, there would, of course, be strong denials, whether or not she had other sex partners. So, there would be a need to wait for the birth of the baby, and the DNA test carried out before the man is prosecuted and jailed.

Pregnancy happens when two consenting male and female have intimacy, (unless it is forced).  If they don’t want to make babies, the sensible thing to do is to prevent it by using  methods that are safe for them, and which agrees with their conscience.  It’s in the woman’s interest to find out from the man first, if he wants her to have a baby for him.  If he says ‘yes’, there should be a written, signed and witnessed undertaking by him that he would accept any pregnancy from her, and support the child when born.

It should be only when a woman presents such an undertaking that the man can be held lawfully if he neglects her when she’s pregnant for him.  This would teach our young people to approach intimacy with caution and a great sense of responsibility.

Another thing to consider is where a married man has no means by which he can look after a pregnant mistress.  Sending him to jail would deprive his own proper family of the important presence of their husband/father in the home, and this could have an adverse psychological effect on his children. Talk of punishing the innocent!  If implemented, we can expect to see a man’s own legal family neglected financially while the mistress and her child live in opulence, simply because he doesn’t want to be sent to jail!  If you send a domestic help or low-income young man to jail for not being able to support the girl he has put in the family way, he could turn into a hardened criminal when he comes out, and  pose a danger to the society.

Is the bill supposed to help put a sense of responsibility in a man’s desire for extra-marital relationships and ‘outside’ babies?  Will it work here?

I believe what Lagos State probably has in mind is something like the CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY which is very effective in Europe and the U.S.A, in helping to force a man pay child support for the children in the marriage or relationship he has left. Employers cooperate to see that an agreed money is deducted from his source of income and sent to the mother of his children for their upkeep. He risks a jail term if he defaults or refuses to pay.

If Lagos State fine-tunes this bill, it would be very useful for the welfare of the Nigerian child.  One should commend this government for good intentions.