IGBO ORA: On a normal day a visitor might pass Igbo-Ora with little more than a double-take, wondering why so many pairs of residents wear matching clothes. But this weekend left nobody doubting what makes the town in southwest Nigeria special.

With fanfare, pageantry, talent shows and even a royal visit, hundreds of people gathered in the self-proclaimed “twins capital of the world” to celebrate its unusually high rate of multiple births.

“There’s hardly a family here in Igbo-Ora that doesn’t have a twin,” said visiting Yoruba king Oba Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle, himself a twin.

Yoruba culture reveres twins and their first names are traditionally fixed — Taiwo meaning ‘one that tastes the world’ for the eldest child, and Kehinde meaning ‘one that came after’ for the second-born.

The town stands out even in the wider Yorubaland region, which boasts an above-average incidence of non-identical twins, according to population experts.

The global average birth rate for twins is around 12 per 1,000 births — but in Igbo-Ora, it is thought to be closer to 50 per 1,000, according to scientific studies and hospital records. Explanations for the abundance differ.

Many residents put it down to diet, especially okra leaf or Ilasa soup with yam and amala (cassava flour).

Fertility experts — and several residents — are sceptical, saying there is no proven link between diet and the high twin rate.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2024