Beyond Paying the Bills: Why Nigerian Fathers Must Show Up Before Birth

By Daniel Nnamani

For many Nigerian men, fatherhood begins on the day a baby is born. Their responsibility, as society has long defined it, is to provide money for antenatal care, settle hospital bills, buy baby items, and cater to the family’s financial needs. While these responsibilities remain important, evidence increasingly suggests that fatherhood should begin much earlier, perhaps, right from pregnancy.

Across many antenatal clinics in Nigeria, waiting areas are often occupied almost entirely by expectant mothers. Fathers are noticeably absent, not necessarily because they do not care, but because pregnancy has traditionally been regarded as a woman’s affair. Consequently, many men limit their involvement to financial provision while their partners navigate pregnancy, labour, childbirth, and postnatal recovery largely on their own.

However, research suggests that this long-held perception may be costing families more than they realise.

A 2025 study contained in the NETBRECSIN book of abstracts found that although 64.2 per cent of male partners surveyed in Ibadan North LGA paid the full hospital bill during childbirth, only 18.2 per cent accompanied their spouses to antenatal and postnatal clinic visits. The findings challenge the assumption that paying the bills alone amounts to active fatherhood.

Interestingly, the study also found that poor participation was not primarily because men were unwilling. Instead, work demands, financial pressures, entrenched gender expectations and health-system barriers were identified as the major reasons many fathers remain absent from maternal healthcare.

This distinction is noteworthy because for years, public conversations have often portrayed men as uninterested in pregnancy and childbirth. Yet, if the biggest obstacles are structural rather than personal, then simply telling men to “be more involved” may not be enough. Communities, employers, healthcare providers and policymakers must also create environments that make participation possible.

Healthcare professionals have long argued that fathers who attend antenatal clinics gain a better understanding of pregnancy, childbirth, nutrition, danger signs, newborn care and emergency medical decisions. Such knowledge can become invaluable when unexpected complications arise. Take Caesarean Section, for example.

Many disagreements between couples over medically recommended Caesarean deliveries stem from an inadequate understanding of the procedure. A father who has participated in antenatal counselling is more likely to understand why doctors recommend surgery in certain situations and is therefore better prepared to support timely medical decisions. Such informed participation could reduce delays that often place the lives of mothers and babies at risk.

Active fatherhood also extends beyond the delivery room.

Women who receive emotional support from their spouses during pregnancy often experience lower stress levels and better mental wellbeing. Shared attendance at antenatal appointments also encourages better communication between couples, allowing them to prepare together for childbirth and the responsibilities of parenting.

The benefits extend to children as well, in the sense that fathers become involved from pregnancy, they begin to form emotional connections with their children long before birth. Rather than growing up with memories of a father who only paid school fees, children are more likely to experience the presence, care and emotional investment of both parents from the earliest stages of life.

Changing this culture, however, requires more than individual goodwill.

Healthcare facilities should become more welcoming to fathers by providing couple-focused antenatal counselling and creating environments where men feel included rather than out of place. Local governments can support fathers in the informal sector through family-friendly policies that reduce the economic cost of attending antenatal appointments. Religious institutions also have a role to play by promoting responsible fatherhood through sermons, marriage counselling and community engagement.

These are some of the issues that Papa Cares Initiative, a community-based advocacy campaign, seeks to address. The initiative is working to promote active male participation in maternal healthcare through public education, policy advocacy and partnerships with healthcare providers, religious institutions and local government authorities.

Its message is simple but powerful: Fatherhood begins before birth.

As Nigeria continues to pursue better maternal and child health outcomes, perhaps the conversation should move beyond asking whether fathers can afford to pay hospital bills. The more important question may be whether fathers are willing and supported to walk the journey of pregnancy alongside the women carrying their children.

After all, healthy families are not built by financial provision alone. They are built by presence, partnership and shared responsibility from the very beginning.

This article is produced under the Papa Cares Initiative, a behaviour change communication campaign developed by Group 4 to promote active male participation in maternal healthcare. The initiative forms part of the Message Design Project in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos.