By Maria Famakinwa
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Former Big Brother Nigeria season 5 house mate, Lucy Edet, said recently that her future husband may need to undergo a vasectomy because he would have a hard time resisting. Therefore, she felt he would need a vasectomy in order to avoid littering their home with so many babies.
Vasectomy is an elective surgical procedure in form of male birth control that cuts the supply of sperm. During the procedure, the male vasa deferential are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and thereby prevent fertilization of a female through sexual intercourse.
It is one of the few options men have to manage their reproductive capacity and take on a more equitable role in pregnancy prevention. Though, vasectomy is another form of family planning for men but the fact that it is irreversible once done which discouraged most men from embracing it.
This is also coupled with the belief that men in African countries especially Nigeria being chauvinistic would rather want women instead of men to go for family planning. The Hope spoke with some men if they would do a vasectomy.
A teacher, Mr Akeem Olumuyiwa, said that there is nothing wrong for men going for vasectomy since women also go for family planning but stressed the need for people to be better educated about it.
While blaming the stand of the society on most decisions, he said: “There is need for couples to be sensitized that men can also go for vasectomy instead of putting all the stress on women. There is nothing wrong for men to embrace vasectomy in order to limit the number of children they want to have after all, women are also doing family planning. What I observed is that our kind of society will want to go against the idea of men going for vasectomy unlike in developed countries where men willingly go for it. My plan is to have three children and once I am done, I don’t mind going for vasectomy.”
Sharing a similar sentiment, a commercial driver, Mr Oludare Abiola, explained that he never heard about vasectomy before otherwise, he would have done it. The man who blamed his lack of education on his polygamous nature called on government at all levels to educate men more on the merits of vasectomy.
His words: “I wish I have heard of this procedure before. It would have helped reduced the number of children I have. I planned to have just five children but now I have eight which is not easy for me to cope with. If there is a way I can enjoy myself without impregnating women, why not? Now, my lack of knowledge about this has forced polygamy on me which further makes me incapacitated to meet my children’s needs.
“I am very sure that some men don’t know that such procedure exist. It is very good for men who are done having children to go for it because it will save them of unwanted pregnancies and helped them to live good life.”
Speaking on the contrary, a businessman, Mr Imole Owolabi, hinted that he could not do vasectomy. Rather, he would prefer his wife to go for family planning because vasectomy is not reversible. The man who maintained that men with full knowledge of vasectomy would not support the idea warned of its consequences.
His words: “I cannot subject myself to vasectomy because it is permanent. God forbids, what will l do if after done with having children and the unimaginable happened that I need to have more children, where will I turn to after I might have subjected myself earlier to vasectomy? I think that the right thing to do is for my wife to go for family planning which is reversible unlike male procedure that is permanent.”
A civil servant, Mr Jerry Busari, said that he could not do vasectomy and would not advise any man to do it. According to him, it would deny him the natural sense of sexual enjoyment.
He said: “Vasectomy is not a popular practice in Africa. Even medical doctors who are done having children will never go for it. Instead, their women would rather go for family planning which is generally acceptable and safe for women. Not that it is forbidden but it is not popular unlike family planning.
“You will hardly hear medical practitioners telling men to go for vasectomy, you are saying it now, nobody ever discussed any issue relating to such. I am very sure that if any man in Nigeria decided to go for vasectomy, his wife will be the first to discourage him from it. Instead, the woman will offer to go for the usual family planning. Our mentality of birth control is that women should go for family planning and not men. So, I cannot go for vasectomy because the society we live in does not support the idea,” he said.
