By Isaac Olufemi Ojo
“Family planning na the way, my brother,” Osas Omarumwenfe said with the easy confidence of a man who had made up his mind years ago and had no regrets.
On the day he and his wife visited the health facility in Benin City, the waiting area was already coming alive. Women sat with babies on their laps, some waiting quietly for their turn while others spoke in low voices to health workers. The occasional cry of a child broke through the conversations as nurses moved between the consulting rooms and patients waited to be attended to.
For Omarumwenfe, however, the visit was not about treating an illness. He was there because he and his wife had decided to take control of when their family would grow.
The 44-year-old father of two from Ogodu, Benin City, said the decision had been made early in their marriage, after the birth of their first child.
“I understood the benefits early. When I got married, my wife and I agreed to opt for the three-year contraceptive implant after we took delivery of our first child,” he said.
The couple wanted to give themselves time—to recover, care for their first child, and prepare financially before having another.
For three years, the implant was quietly effective. Then, when they were ready for the next baby, they returned to the health facility for removal.
Today, their first child is six, while their second child will turn three in December.
Looking back, Omarumwenfe sees family planning not simply as a contraceptive choice but as a decision that helped him and his wife determine the pace at which they wanted to build their family.
For Osas Omarumwenfe, family planning was never something his wife had to pursue alone. The father of two and his wife jointly decided to use a contraceptive implant to space their children.
This experience captures one of the less visible changes behind Edo State’s progress in family planning: the growing recognition that men are not merely spectators in decisions about contraception.
What is driving the positive change in Edo?
Recent Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data put modern contraceptive prevalence among married women nationally at 15.3 per cent, up from 3.4 per cent in 1990. Yet unmet need remains high at 21.0 per cent, indicating that millions of women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy still face barriers to accessing or using contraception.
According to the Edo state ministry of health, the state is performing better than the national average with the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (MCPR) standing at 19.4 per cent, while unmet need stands at 19.1 per cent. Although the state is ahead of the national MCPR, it remains below Nigeria’s 27 per cent target.
The 19.4 percent data which according to NDHS 2024 was at 15% in 2018 suggests progress of 4.4 percent increase, but also point to a gap that commodities and health facilities alone cannot bridge. For state health officials, one of the answers lies in changing who participates in the conversation.
Mrs Adja Abieyuwa, Coordinator, Reproductive Health, Edo State Ministry of Health, said the state had increasingly integrated family planning into its broader reproductive-health strategy.
Dr David Odiko, Director of Family Health and Reproductive Health at the ministry, said a deliberate shift had been made from presenting family planning as a family and community issue, no longer a woman’s exclusive responsibility to an inclusive one.
“One of our key focuses is inclusivity. We find that men have a central role to play in ensuring sustainability in our social relatability programmes,” Odiko said.
Rather than limiting sensitisation to women already visiting clinics, the state is engaging men in places where they live, work and exercise influence within their communities.
Car drivers, bus drivers and community leaders are among those being targeted.
“In our community engagement, we are targeting the car riders, the bus drivers, the community heads, and what we did was to let them buy into the initiative, and take it further as champions,” Odiko explained.
Dr. Odiko further added that this approach is important because a woman’s ability to adopt and continue using a family-planning method can be influenced by more than what happens during a consultation with a health worker.
A supportive partner can make the decision easier. A husband who understands the benefits can encourage continued use. And a respected community leader who is willing to discuss family planning publicly can help weaken the myths and misconceptions that often discourage couples from using contraceptives.
That is where Edo’s Public Sector Strengthening (PSS) intervention becomes particularly relevant. The model being implemented by MSI Nigeria Reproductive Choices in partnership with the Edo State Ministry of Health does not treat family planning as a commodity-distribution exercise. It combines the availability of contraceptives with provider training, supportive supervision, data strengthening, and community-level demand creation.
The male-engagement strategy ensures that the decision to use family planning is supported outside the facility as well.
The approach connects the two sides of family planning: creating demand and making sure the health system can meet it.
Reproductive Health Partners Driving Ground-Level Execution
Aside from the state’s internal policy, the director noted that the state has aligned its purpose with support from key partners to achieve its aims.
MSI Reproductive Choices Nigeria stands at the forefront with years of active campaigns on reproductive health across all regions in the country.
Having successfully provided 75% of all family planning service delivery in Nigeria in 2025, including implants, IUDs, oral contraceptive pills, condoms, emergency contraceptives, contraceptive counselling, and other method choices, MSI Reproductive Choices Nigeria and its supported facilities have been pivotal in driving inclusivity in modern contraception uptake.
Operating across multiple levels, MSIN has trained over 13,000 public health workers on family planning and comprehensive sexual reproductive health service in Nigeria between 2009 and 2026, with interventions reaching over four million clients in 698 local government areas across Nigeria.
This move has scaled down resistance, dispelling myths and creating an enabling environment responsible for the swift narrative shift in Edo.
The state commissioner for Health, Dr. Cyril Adams Oshiomole disclosed that this partnership helped in increasing outreaches and supportive supervision across the state, while preventing unplanned pregnancies , averted unsafe abortions and its complications and prevented maternal mortality.
Dr. Oshiomole further added that since, Family Planning Uptake across the state has consistently increased by an average of 25% yearly since 2022. “In 2025 alone, more than 90,000 women received family planning services across health facilities including Primary healthcare facilities in Edo state, representing an increase of over 39% compared to the previous year, he stated. He added that in the first quarter of 2026, the state recorded over 20,000 additional women accessing family planning services.
The Social and Behavioral Change and Communication Officer at MSI Nigeria, Grace Esan, strategically engages men, particularly community leaders, traditional leaders, and influential gatekeepers, as their voice in selected communities ahead of outreach events.
This helps create awareness about event locations and service availability, increasing the target audience, including men.
Aside from providing family planning products and services, MSI’s contribution plays a pivotal role by utilizing men as major mobilizers.
These selected men are supported with orientation on key family planning messages and outreach objectives, mobilization of residents, and a stipend that serves as motivation for the work ahead.
Summarizing the milestone achieved in Edo State, Esan noted: “The combination of community ownership, trust in local influencers, and sustained service availability has been central to Edo’s success.”
Expanding Access Through Toll-Free Support
MSI Reproductive Choices Nigeria has also introduced a toll-free service 22252 to connect people with nearby facilities for counseling and family planning services.
Mrs. Omeche Enemaku, Regional Manager South south , MSI Nigeria said the service is intended to help address unmet needs , reduce maternal mortality and also enable women to choose when they want to have children.
Beyond Policy: Community Perspectives and Local Champions
To gather more insight into the shifting narrative, the reporter spoke with a few of the male family planning champions.
Forty-year-old Ogbeide, a resident of Oredo, Benin City, and a family planning champion for over two years, narrates the transformative journey.
“As a town crier, my job is to spread the news beyond the market square for everybody to hear,” he said.
“When I go to a village, I stay for about four days, moving from one corner of the village to another, visiting churches, mosques, schools, workshops, and gatherings telling people how important it is to space their children. Most times, I use myself as a good example. That’s why they call me ‘Family Planning Myself.’”
He added that he works as the advance team that precedes the actual Family planning outreach.
“I have received calls from husbands of the women I spoke with on the benefits of modern contraception, and surprisingly, most of these women turn up with their husbands for the main event to subscribe to their preferred option.”
He disclosed that when approached with hard questions by fellow men, he is always quick to present himself as not just a preacher of the initiative, but a doer.
According to MSI’s Social and Behavioral Change and Communication Officer, Grace Esan, the organization occasionally engages local town criers, mostly men alongside community-based mobilizers for selected community outreaches. “Communication of vital information is done through a public address system or a local bell,” she noted, adding that these mobilizers influence awareness about family planning, which helps increase modern family planning uptake in the society.
Breakthroughs and Local Voices
Across Edo State, acceptability of modern family planning amongst women of reproductive age is gradually increasing alongside their husbands’ growing awareness. However, further findings amongst women revealed economic instability and personal health as catalysts.
While some women are still held bound by misinformation about the side effects, acceptability remains increasingly visible.
Personal Accounts from Nursing Mothers
For Joy Rumanus, a 33-year-old nursing mother of three, her personal well-being and the harsh economic realities in the country propelled her to subscribe to family planning.
While speaking with the reporter at Eyaen Primary Health Centre, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo, she disclosed that agreed on the withdrawal method, a method she claimed had worked well for her household.
“As I dey, my first child is 4 years senior, the second, and the second use 3 years senior this last one,” Joy shared.
Speaking on her decision to opt for natural child spacing, she added: “As I dey so, no be because of my religion make me and my husband go for natural. I hear say modern methods dey fail and person belle fit swell; as I dey so, if I take am, my system fit no carry am, my blood fit no carry am. And since we do this withdrawal, this system will not fail us.”
Mary Ognemudia, a 36-year-old mother of three, shares a three-year perspective on how she and her husband mutually decided on a family planning method: “I had my family planning procedure when I had my third child. I took it for my second child 8 months after the delivery of my first child, so when I had my third child, I told my husband that family planning would be the best option for me because I know my body, and he agreed, so I took the 3-year implant.
I initially used the injection method, but surprisingly, I discovered I had still conceived my third baby, which is why my husband and I agreed to opt for this method instead, and so far it has been fine,” she said.
She highlighted the support she received throughout the process: “He was very supportive; we even came to the clinic together to get it done.”
When asked if her husband was familiar with male contraceptive options, she mentioned condoms: “Yes, he uses condoms, but sometimes he dey break, making them unreliable. That’s why we agreed on this option to be on the safe side,” she explained.
However, another woman Blessing Agbo (not her real name ) a mother of four in one of the hard-to-reach regions of Edo said she had a family planning procedure after her husband agreed to it after her 4th childbirth. “I am glad I did it,” she said.
Medical and Religious Champions Leading the Cause
The input of medical champions and religious leaders cannot be overemphasized in the positive changes recorded in the acceptance of modern contraceptives in Edo State.
Retired Director of Nursing and Principal, State School of Midwifery, Benin, Edo State, Dr. Christiana Ijeghede, shared insight of the transition: “ We did research in the past and we found out that the non-involvement of men was the major barrier limiting Modern contraceptive uptake amongst nursing mothers, so we now started going to communities using men, you know when men talk to men, they understand better. Likewise, women, even for the Muslims, at a time it was very difficult for them to accept family planning, so we started talking to them, you know when the imams talk to them, they listen,” she said.
The Chief Imam of Benin Kingdom and Chairman, League of Imams, Edo State, Abdulfatah Ikponmwonsa Enabulele, also disclosed that they have been doing a lot in educating young girls and men of marriageable age on the benefits of child spacing, even before marriage: “We provide counseling sessions for the young women here, educating them on the essentials of marriage and the reasons why they need to utilize these available methods for their own good,” he said.
Barriers Limiting Male Involvement
While there has been significant progress in the involvement of men in the acceptance and uptake of modern family planning methods in Edo State, the Director of Reproductive Health at the Edo State Ministry of Health, Dr. David Odiko, disclosed that cultural attachments to myths, poverty, and general ignorance continue to prevent the state from surpassing national targets.
He said that contraceptive stock-outs experienced last year were a drawback, while product procurement was highlighted in the current fiscal budget, procurement and distribution of commodities at the moment remain slow and may remain so till the end of the year.
He added that the state government in partnership with partners like MSI, is doing a lot to get information to the hard-to-reach zones in Edo State, but noted that the possibility of reaching all of them looks slim “We may not be able to cover all of them, but at least we are starting.” He said
Aside from that, the male Mobilizer who works in the hard-to-reach regions maintained that insufficient remuneration for mobilised champions creates an operational bottleneck, as male mobilizers often spend days away from their families to prepare communities for outreaches.
“The money den dey give me no dey reach, see as transport cost, but the time I enter transport inside the 8,000, na small change go remain, and I get wife and children for house,” he lamented, but added that the driving force for him is his passion to see that his male counterparts understand the process.
Some women in the course of this report express limited confidence in condom use by men, with past failures as an indicator to keep off, religious and cultural beliefs add to the setback recorded.
Misinformation about post-removal infertility continues to limit family planning uptake in hard-to-reach areas, amplified by religious and doctrinal views. For instance, Dr. Christiana Ijeghede,a retired nursing director who also serves as the Financial Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Edo State maintains that modern contraceptives run contrary to divine reproduction laws, keeping doctrinal barriers alive among faithful communities.
While structural and cultural barriers persist, the inclusive approach in Edo state proves that bringing men “beyond the clinic doors” is essential for long-term reproductive health progress.
