It is often said that the birth of twins in any household brings fruitfulness and joy and it’s a clear indication of the supremacy of God and his blessings to humanity regardless of its flaws. in this article we will be sharing with you about the Village in Oyo state which is synonymous with Twin births – like every household in the village has a twin hence its name — THE TWIN VILLAGE.
Igbo-Ora a small community in Oyo state has much ancestral heritage but the most admirable tale is that the village is a melting point for twin births. The town is reputable among neighbouring communities in Oyo State, Yoruba land, Nigeria and Africa because of the multiple birth record of twins and triplets in virtually every household.
The frequency of the multiple births attracts the world, especially researchers and also makes the city worthy of enlisting in the Guinness Book of Record.
Many researchers are still trying to unravel the mystery behind multiple twin births in Igbo-Ora, some have made many assumptions that it might be either the environment or the food people of Igbo-Ora eat that make them give birth to many twins, making the town the world’s twin capital.
Oba Jimoh Titiloye, Olu of Igbo-ora, the paramount ruler of the community obviously excited by the natural endowment of the community noted that a study conducted by a British gynaecologist, Patrick Nylander, from 1972 – 1982 recorded an average of 45 to 50 sets of twins per 1,000 births in the South West of Nigeria, and there are about 30 times more in Igbo-Ora than there are in the whole of Europe.
According to the Yoruba monarch, twins are a special gift from God because they are harbingers of good things and possess what other children do not have.
“Twins are unique creations that are very important, and we Yorubas also count them worthy, God created them in unique ways”, the Alaafin explained.
“Yorubas believe that giving birth to twins brings happiness to the family that is why everybody wants to associate with them either having them as children or as an associate, this makes them have adoring names that are different from all other children”.
According to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) article, there are about 158 twins per 1,000 newborn in Igbo-Ora, the twins capital of the world compared to 5 twins per 1,000 newborns in Europe.
“Population expert has a history of giving birth to twins or other multiples also affirm that Nigeria, particularly the South West has the world highest twinning rate and the Igbo-Ora, the headquarters of Ibarapa Central Local Government has the highest percentage of twins”, Oba Titiloye said.
“In Igbo-ora, nearly every household has a history of giving birth to twins or other multiples, people attributed the predominance of twins in Igbo-Ora to a meal, Amala and Ilasa, morsel meals that combine yam powder (agida) and okra leave soup, yams contain gonadotropins, a chemical that helps women produce multiple eggs”, he said.
Owing to this rare feat the small city of Igbo-Ora comes to life every October 9, yearly as people from all walks of life converge in the ancient town to celebrate the annual Igbo-Ora World Twins Festival.
The festival is put together by Twins World Creations in conjunction with Igbo-Ora Community Foundation to showcase the tourism and cultural potential of the community, which is worth enlisting in the Guinness Book of Record.
The uniqueness of the annual event sees the presence of over 3000 set to twins from different parts of the country, as well as the usual presence of the Alaafin of Oyo/ grand patron of the festival, Eleruwa of Eruwa, and some traditional chiefs from Oyo.
The uniqueness of the multiple births in the community earned it the name “THE TWIN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD” and you would agree with me they earned the name.
