For many reasons, DNA testing has become very relevant among families today. Once a wife gives birth, the family, if they can afford it, often goes for a DNA test to primarily discover who the father of the child is amongst other things. Most of the time, this move is made out of infidelity suspicion. Nevertheless, a DNA test is advised whether on the ground of infidelity or not. In this article, I’ll be discussing everything you need to know about DNA tests in Nigeria.
What is a DNA Test?
DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid – is an organic chemical. This chemical contains the genetic information of a person and it is found in many cells in the body. A DNA test is simply a laboratory test that is carried out to access the genetic information contained in the DNA. As a result, a DNA test can tell a lot about a person.
As a chemical, the information contained in the DNA is encoded and can only be decoded in the laboratory using the right equipment. A DNA test will reveal your genetic information. You and you’re family are supposed to share the same genetic information.
If you’re a father, your DNA and that of your child will be checked. If it matches, then the child is yours but if it doesn’t, the child isn’t yours. This is mainly why people conduct a DNA test on children – to confirm their genes. DNA tests are very accurate, you can trust the information you get from them at 99.9%.
However, a DNA test reveals more than just who the father of a child is and other relations. A DNA test on a child will tell if the child has any disorder or is prone to suffer from any hereditary diseases, like cancer, in the future. From your DNA test data, you can also know your blood type.
How much is a DNA test in Nigeria?
The price of DNA tests in Nigeria is somewhat complicated. This is because many hospitals that conduct DNA tests don’t make their prices public. The prices are relatively expensive so putting the high price out in public may not attract prospective customers. Therefore, you mostly have to visit the hospital and make inquiries before you can know the price.
Nevertheless, the cost of DNA tests will depend on the standard of the hospital and how reliable they believe their tests to be. Globally, DNA tests cost around $300 to $500 which is about N120,000 to N200,000. Nevertheless, you can perform DNA tests in some Nigerian hospitals and laboratories for N100,000. That is relatively an affordable price and anything lower could be an unreliable test.
The price discussed above is usually for a standard test that involves one parent and one child. You could get discounts if there are multiple persons to test as well.
Where to do a DNA test in Nigeria?
There are many places in Nigeria where you can perform DNA tests in Nigeria. All you need to do is to take up your phone and look up DNA test centers in Nigeria on Google. From the results pick a DNA test center that’s closest to you. If you reside in Lagos, you have even more options as most DNA test centers in Nigeria are located there.
It’s important to first make online inquiries before visiting the hospital. You can easily phone, text, or email the center and get information from them on how their services work. Some can even discuss the price with you over the phone.
A recommended location for performing DNA tests in Nigeria is the DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC). This is an international DNA testing center that is present in over 160 countries and they are based in the United States. They perform a variety of DNA tests.
What is the difference between a DNA test and Paternity test?
Sometimes, you’ll have people say DNA test and other times Paternity test and you might be wondering what the difference is. Well, both are the same and different; a paternity test is a DNA test but a DNA test is not just a paternity test. When most Nigerians go for a DNA test, they go for a paternity test to confirm who the father of a child is.
You can still perform a DNA test to confirm the maternity of a child. It goes all the way to relations including grandparents’ DNA test if the child’s parents are unavailable, siblings’ analysis to discover true brothers and siblings, twin zygosity test to confirm twins, DNA reconstruction, DNA testing for ancestry, aunt-uncle DNA, and a lot more.
It’s totally fine to call a DNA test a paternity test if your main objective is to confirm the paternity of a child. Otherwise, you shouldn’t call it a paternity test but a DNA test.
DNA Paternity test alternatives
If you don’t have the money to perform a DNA paternity test, how else can you confirm that you’re the owner of your child or not? Well, a DNA test is the most reliable way to confirm paternity but there are other options as well.
The first option is to go for a blood type check. While this isn’t 100% the child will likely share a similar blood type with his or her father or mother. Another option is the eye color test. A child will inherit their eye color from parents but, it’s still an estimate.
Finally, you can follow up on the date of conception. It’s known that a woman gives birth after 9 months. So if you didn’t have sex with your wife around the period of conception, it’s obvious that the child isn’t yours.
Final Note
If you plan on conducting a DNA test for any reason, I’m sure this article will help you understand what the process is all about. DNA tests can be done in a lot of locations in Nigeria although it’s relatively expensive.