IGBO History & Facts@IgboHistoFacts
In February 1984, a homeopathic doctor, Ernest Ugochukwu, announced that his team at Calvary Hospital Enugu had achieved Nigeria’s first in vitro fertilisation (IVF) birth, popularly known as a test-tube baby. The claim would spark one of the hottest scientific controversies in Nigeria that decade.
According to a cover story by The African Guardian Magazine, the Anambra State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) was the first to dismiss the announcement as a sham. Its chairman, Paul Chuke, and secretary, John Oli, described Ugo’s claim as “false and unfortunate.” They argued that the Enugu team lacked the sophisticated equipment, laboratory facilities, and expertise required for the delicate IVF process.
Ugo fired back, accusing the NMA leadership of jealousy and condemning his work without inspecting his laboratory or practice. He also mocked orthodox medicine, claiming it was lagging behind developments in alternative medical practice.
It took the Muhammadu Buhari military regime nearly a year to set up a five-member panel of medical experts to investigate the claim. By then, a team at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) had also announced it was close to achieving an IVF breakthrough.
During the panel’s visit to Enugu, its chairman, Adesanya Ige Grillo, reportedly asked Ugo’s wife — a Greek doctor who was part of the team, why she did not return to her country to carry out the breakthrough. A Yoruba member of the Enugu team was also asked what he was doing with an Igbo group, comments that later fueled accusations of ethnic bias.
After the visit, one panel member, Bodunrin Oluwa, resigned in protest. He cited Grillo’s bias and what he described as the panel’s shabby conduct during its Enugu inspection.
In June 1985, Grillo petitioned the police, accusing Ugo of possessing forged certificates and running an unregistered clinic. He claimed there was no school of homeopathy in Thessaloniki, Greece, where Ugo said he had trained. Ugo and other members of his team were subsequently detained for 42 days.
On July 1, 1985, Grillo announced the panel’s findings: the LUTH team was legitimate, while the Enugu team, he said, consisted of frauds not certified to practise homeopathic medicine.
The Greek school later replied to Nigerian authorities, confirming that Dr Ugo’s certificate was genuine.
However, the Ibrahim Babangida regime upheld the panel’s verdict in an announcement on May 1, 1986. The statement said Dr Ugo’s claim could “dent the credibility of Nigeria within and outside the country.”
During its own investigation, The African Guardian interviewed two parents who said they had struggled with infertility until they participated in Ugo’s trials and each later had a child.
The magazine concluded that the scandal was ultimately about the unresolved tension between orthodox medical practice and alternative medicine in Nigeria — a clash not just of science, but of professional power, credibility, and control.
