On our arrival in Nigeria’s self-proclaimed capital of twins to investigate the proliferation of multiple births in the small rural town of Igbo-Ora, we are greeted by the news that a woman has just delivered a healthy pair of babies at the local clinic.

Their mother is a twin – her twin brother is in the ward taking photos of the new arrivals, his nephew and niece. Surrounding the bed are the babies’ grandmother, who is herself a twin, and their great-grandmother, who has given birth to two sets of twins.

“That’s how we do it here. We give birth to twins. It makes our town special,” the five-hour-old twins’ grandmother tells the BBC.

“It makes us proud and we love them. We love our twins. They bring us success,” she said.

“People are disappointed if they don’t give birth to twins.”

It is true that Igbo-Ora, in south-western Nigeria, appears to have a higher-than-usual number of twins – walking through the town it is easy to spot younger sets of twins, who tend to wear matching clothes.

The global average birth rate for twins is around 12 per 1,000 births, but in Igbo-Ora it is reported to be about 45 per 1,000.

In Yoruba culture, which predominates in the south-west of the country, twins are a blessing and their names are predestined.

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