Igbo-Ora: The Oyo Town Where Every Household Has A Set Of Twins
In one of the most unlikely places, 80 kilometres north of Lagos, a small town, Igbo-Ora, is making big waves in the world.
There is something mysterious about Igbo-Ora, a very peaceful town in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria. With an estimated population of 198,514 people, every household seems to have a set of twins or more! It is fascinating and puzzling to people visiting the town for the first time when it appears like there is a double of every face.
Though towns like this have been observed in Brazil and India, the number and frequency at which twins are born here are incomparable. Though a recent, unverified statistics claim that the town boasts of 158 twins per 1,000 births, the most credible rate of twin birth in Igbo-Ora, was recorded in a study carried out by a British gynecologist, Patrick Nylander from 1972 to 1982. The study revealed that the town gets an average of 45 to 50 sets of twins per 1000 births, almost three times more than the global average,18.
Before it became popular recently, Igbo-Ora was only known as a charcoal producing town where most of its inhabitants are farmers and traders. But now, there is a Festival of Twins that enjoys a state-wide celebration and draws visitors from within and outside the country. The town is referred to as the twin capital of the world and there is a statue built in honour of twins at its entrance.
In time past, the birth of twins in some parts of Southern Nigeria was not seen as a special blessing as it is today. Some communities in the region, likewise in other parts of Africa were known for killing twins and ostracizing their mother. It was believed that if a woman had twins, one of them had to be a devil so the twins were left in the jungle in clay pots to die. But Mary Slessor, a Scottish missionary stationed at Calabar led a campaign against the practice and successfully ended the killing of twins in Nigeria.
From then onwards, twins were now revered as an extraordinary set of individuals across all regions of the country.
The phenomenon of giving birth to twins is quite common among the Yorubas in Southwest Nigeria. To create a distinction between a set of twins who are mostly identical, the region has a designation for the first twin who is referred to as Taiyewo (Taiwo), which means “the first to taste the world” and the second twin who is named Kehinde, “the child that came behind gets the rights of the elder.”
Although the region has a large number of twin births, the rate at which this occurs in Igbo-Ora is peculiar. Many studies have been conducted to explain the reason behind this phenomenon. Yet, the findings are mere speculations without a generally agreed causality.
The people believe that their food of yam or Amala and soup of okra leaves commonly called ewe ilasa is the secret to making twins. This view is supported by a research study carried out by fertility experts from the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital which explains that yams prompt the production of gonadotropins, a chemical agent that stimulates the production of eggs.
However, this position has been refuted by other experts who argue that there is no empirical evidence for the high incidence of twin births in the town as this variety of yam is eaten elsewhere around the world without the same result.
Speaking to Africa Check on the matter, Dr. Sulaiman Heylen, who currently serves as the President of the Southern African Society of Reproductive Medicine and Gynecological Endoscopy, equally contradicted the claim.
“There is no scientific evidence that yams, or any other product or food, can increase a woman’s chances of having twins,” he said.
Another possible explanation to the large number of twins being born in Igbo-Ora could be nothing more than genetics even as happy mothers insist that it is an honour and blessing from God and their diet.
A joyous mother of a set of twins once told Batabox in an interview that “it is the work of God… and the food that I eat, like Amala with Ilasa soup.”
The community leader of Igbo-Ora gave the same answer as well: “We eat a lot of the okra leaf or Ilasa soup. We also eat a lot of yam and these diets influence multiple births.”
Whatever the reason for the unusually high rate of twin birth in the town, it is plausible to conclude that this is a matter of the many wonders of nature and lucky genes.
This story was first published on January 26, 2020.
Cover design by Kume Akpubi
