According to the Chief Consultant and Head, Obstetrician and Fertility Department, Eko Hospitals, Dr. Adegbite Ogunmokun, male fertility has significantly declined in recent times.
He said: “If 10 couples come in, there will be problem with the male in 6 of them, using our parameter of 20 million sperm per millimetre. But 10 to 15 years ago, maybe about 4 out of 10 men would have problem.”
Punch correspondents, who visited some fertility centres in Lagos, learnt that more men are having low sperm count, thus necessitating the need for more volunteer donors. But because donors are scarce, fertility clinics offer as much as N50,000 to men who are interested in selling their sperm.
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They also pay more when sellers have special features that the beneficiaries are looking for.
Like blood sellers, investigations show that many people in Lagos, especially students, now sell their sperms anytime they need money.
A student of the University of Lagos, who identified himself as John, said he had sold sperm to a few fertility centres in Lagos. John said he had been funding his education for the past 2 years with what he earned from selling his sperm.
John said he was introduced to the programme by a friend and that he had in turn brought in 2 other friends to the ‘business’.
“I’ve sold to a number of fertility centres. The money has really helped me to stay in school. It takes care of my tuition and some other personal needs,” John said, with a measure of satisfaction.
“It’s cool money, really and I’m also doing a service to mankind by helping out some people in need. Even friends that I introduced to it have not turned back since then.”
An employee in a Lagos fertility clinic, who identified himself as Olufunsho, said that some women would pay any amount to get a sperm seller with the features they want.
He said, “We pay N50,000 here but there are times when women come in and request that, at all cost, they must get a tall man. The person can earn more when they make such requests, especially if we don't have any that fits the profile in our bank.
“There was a time a woman came and requested that we get a tall man for her at all cost. I showed her the samples we had, but she did not like the profile. She said she was not satisfied with the heights. And we were unable to get what she wanted from the sellers that came at the time.
“The sellers that came then were either AS, or positive with hepatitis B or had low sperm count. We had up to twelve sellers that came and we were unable to get anybody. In such cases, we could offer a lot more when we find the right person. Sometimes, such people are also in a position to negotiate for what they want.”
However, subsequent drops attract lesser amounts of money for the same seller.
To sell sperm, the person, according to Olufunsho, must stay off sex for 5 days. He undergoes some tests to confirm that he is not HIV positive and that he also has healthy sperm among others.
He said, “If the same person is still interested and we still need him, he would repeat the screening process again. We pay N10, 000 per ejaculation for other subsequent ones. With my own discretion, if the quality of the sperm is good and we have somebody who needs something that matches perfectly with that seller, we may reduce the probation period, but the sperm must be very good.
“Although that is the protocol, it could always be amended when there is nothing wrong with the person. Even if someone ejaculates the 1st time and in 20 minutes time, he does the same, it is still going to be good, but not as good as the first one.”
Investigation showed that fertility centres want sellers between 18 and 45 years of age and expect them to abstain from sex, 2 to 5 days before giving sperm sample, depending on the centre.
Other conditions to be met by potential sperm sellers include testing negative to HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, sickle cell and some other sexually transmitted diseases. Tests are also carried out to determine the count, morphology (shape) and motility of the sperm cells.
In addition, fertility centres claim to also place a high premium on average intelligence, education and lifestyle. But such claims are not always true as more emphases are actually placed on height and other physical attributes.
“It is not immediately that we pay. We prefer AA genotype because it can be given to anybody, unlike AS that cannot be given to just anybody,” Olufunsho added.
However, an employee in another fertility clinic in Lagos, Akin, said sperm sellers could get paid within a week of starting the process. This is possible only if they satisfy the conditions.
He said, “If the motility is good, the count is good and you're okay, then, you can produce for us. If everything is okay, within a week, you can get your money.”
The demand for sperm has made the fertility business a lucrative one. Many of the fertility centres in Lagos have facilities for sperm preservation, where it’s freezing costs about N50,000 per quarter.
Ogunmokun said fertility centres focus more on university undergraduates to ensure that sperm donors have a certain degree of intelligence.
He said, “The current practice is to actually recruit sperm donors and the focus is on undergraduates. The focus is on students because they should be able to provide their ID cards so that background checks can be done.”
According to research, sperm concentration in men has decreased by a third since 1990s while sperm count is has decreased by half over the past 50 years.
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