A fresh report by Smart DNA Nigeria has revealed that 23.6 per cent of paternity tests conducted in 2025/2026 returned negative results, meaning the men tested were not the biological fathers of the children involved.
The figure, though slightly lower than the 24 per cent recorded in the previous reporting period, means nearly one in every four tests carried out by the laboratory ended with a man being ruled out as the biological father.
Smart DNA’s figures show a gradual decline in negative results over three reporting periods — from 26.1 per cent in 2023, to 24 per cent in 2024/2025, and 23.6 per cent in 2025/2026.
But the figures do not mean that nearly one in four Nigerian fathers is unknowingly raising another man’s child.
Rather, they represent the outcome among people who specifically sought paternity testing and therefore cannot be treated as a national estimate.
Men Drive the Search for Answers
According to the report, men accounted for 78.6 per cent of first contacts for paternity testing, compared with 15.2 per cent for women.
Men aged 41 and above made up the largest age category, accounting for 48 per cent of male records with available age data, while children aged five or younger represented 59.5 per cent of those tested.
Smart DNA Operations Manager, Elizabeth Digia, said many clients turn to DNA testing because they are unable to live with uncertainty over biological fatherhood.
She stressed that such cases should be handled with sensitivity rather than sensationalism.
The growing demand for DNA testing highlights the extent to which scientific evidence is increasingly being used to settle questions that families may struggle to resolve through conversation.
Firstborn Boys Take Centre Stage
One of the most striking findings concerns firstborn children.
The report showed that boys accounted for 56.1 per cent of negative firstborn paternity results, although this was lower than the approximately 64.4 per cent recorded in the preceding period.
The finding is particularly sensitive in a society where the first son is often regarded as the bearer of the family name and lineage.
A disputed paternity result involving a first son can therefore trigger issues far beyond a troubled relationship, potentially affecting questions of identity, inheritance and family belonging.
When DNA Result Shakes a Family
For a man who discovers that he is not the biological father of a child he has raised, the result can be devastating.
The discovery may force him to confront years of emotional investment, school fees, medical expenses, birthdays, sacrifices and the everyday responsibilities of fatherhood.
But the child is often the most vulnerable person in the situation.
Experts have cautioned against punishing, abandoning, humiliating or emotionally withdrawing from a child over a paternity dispute. A child who had no role in the circumstances surrounding their birth can easily become caught in the middle of anger, betrayal and heartbreak between adults.
Peace-of-Mind Tests Rising
The report also revealed a shift in why Nigerians seek DNA testing.
Immigration-related DNA tests dropped from 13.1 per cent to 9.7 per cent, while peace-of-mind tests increased from 83.7 per cent to 87 per cent of cases.
That suggests DNA testing is increasingly being sought privately by people looking for certainty about family relationships rather than mainly for immigration or legal purposes.
Big Warning Over ‘One in Four Fathers’ Claim
Despite the headline-grabbing 23.6 per cent figure, the report should not be interpreted as evidence that one in four Nigerian fathers is raising a child who is not biologically his.
The Smart DNA data cover its own clients — people who had enough reason or concern to seek a paternity test.
Men and women who have no doubts about paternity are far less likely to visit a DNA laboratory for testing. This means the laboratory’s clientele cannot automatically be treated as a representative sample of Nigerian families.
Femi Adebola, a professor of sample survey statistics at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, similarly warned that using the findings from one testing centre to estimate the national prevalence of non-paternity would not be statistically sound.
The distinction is crucial: 23.6 per cent is the negative-result rate among Smart DNA’s tested cases, not the percentage of Nigerian fathers who are unknowingly raising children who are not biologically theirs.
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