Despite efforts by the Federal Government, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders in ensuring that female genital mutilation is eradicated, the trend continues to thrive in some Southwestern states of Nigeria, writes JEREMIAH OKE.
Bothered about the prevailing cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Onelife Initiative for Human Development (OIHD), has urged the federal and state governments to ensure proper enforcement of the existing laws against the ignoble act.
Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), the NGO described female genital mutilation as all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, adding that it is recognised as a violation against human rights of women and girls.
The NGO also challenged the three tiers of government to wage ‘severe’ war against FGM so as to reduce the rate of hazards and violence against female children.
The Coordinator of OIHD, Mr. Sola Fagorusi, noted that the rate of FGM was alarming and called for more proactive efforts by the government to prevent the act.
He enjoined the Federal Government to enforce the existing laws promulgated against FGM at both medical and traditional centres.
According to him, proper punishments should henceforth be meted out to violators of the law. Regretting the increasing rate of FGM in some states despite sensitisation and awareness by different organisations, Fagorusi blamed the government for the high rate of the act.
Mr Fagorusi noted that in December 2012, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted to work for the elimination of FGM throughout the world because it usually affects the female gender, saying that despite all the efforts, many parents still engage in mutilating their female children.
The Southwest Report gathered that the practice of female genital mutilation still thrives as a result of some cultural beliefs of the people to the effect that female genital mutilation helps in preventing the would-be grown up lady from being promiscuous and to ensure that a woman remains a virgin until marriage.
However, some cultural fundamentalists also believe that it is part of the rituals ladies must go through to be considered as real women as it increases their sexual pleasure.
According to recent report by WHO, 100 million girls have been mutilated globally and 10 per cent of them are from Nigeria.
Also, a report by Onelife Initiative for Human Development, five states with the highest prevalence of female genital mutilation in Nigeria are Osun with 76.6 per cent of girl-child, Ekiti 72.3 per cent, Oyo 65.6 per cent; Ebonyi 74 per cent and Imo 68 per cent.
The act mostly prevalent in some Southwest states is being carried out by local practitioners called “Alabede or Oloola” which literally means a person who performs circumcision.
According to one of the prominent practitioners in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital who pleaded not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, the business can only be inherited and practised by a male member of the family.
He said the trend will be difficult to eradicate in the family in particular and the society in general, no matter the threat and intimidation by government.
He said: “I am currently the head of this family and I can tell you it is real. Though government had said we should stop it, we cannot allow our female children to become subjects of ridicule in the society. No amount of threat or intimidation can stop us from performing circumcision on our female children.
“Let me tell you why it is very important. First, Yoruba people believe that if a female child refuses to accept circumcision, it will affect her when she is ready to give birth and that was why stillborn was rampant. The head of the infant must not touch the woman’s clitoris.
“Second, many underage are being molested as a result of their hot urge for sex. There is a little jam we normally remove from clitoris of the girl-child which is always responsible for probable tendency for promiscuity. We cannot allow our children to be subject of ridicule and abuse, which is the reason we cannot stop performing circumcision on our female children.
“I know the government must have noticed the cruel ways our brothers from the South-eastern part of the country are performing it and that was why government always kicks against it.
“For instance; in the South eastern part of Nigeria, they usually cut off the clitoris completely and as a result of that, the child may bleed to death if they could not manage it well. I guess that is why government is against female circumcision.”
However, government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), lawyers and medical doctors have severally joined voices against this inhuman cultural belief.
The former Medical Director of Adeoyo State Hospital, Ring Road Ibadan Dr. Diran Olabisi said it is medically wrong to mutilate a girl-child.
He said there was no medical proof that those who are not mutilated could be promiscuous as speculated or believed by many people.
“No medical research proves that the girl-child should be mutilated,” he said.
Mr. Fagorusi, who has been advocating for total eradication of female genital mutilation practice in the country, revealed that no medical school in the universe is teaching how to mutilate the girl-child. As such, he said, people should consider it as violence against the female gender.
He stated this at a workshop organised to educate secondary school students, teachers and young parents on the risk of female genital mutilation. The event was held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan.
Speaking on the effects of this primordial cultural practice, he said: “Medical experts have conducted numerous researches that indicate that the horrifying practice results in great suffering for the female gender as they experience shock which may lead to death. It could also cause obstruction during labour resulting in difficulty in delivery.
It has psycho-social effect as well. That means a situation in which the woman has hard feelings about sexual relationship with her husband. This, often results in broken homes.”
Refuting the presumption that the girl-child would be promiscuous if she doesn’t undergo female genital mutilation, Fagorusi said: “Promiscuity has nothing to do with mutilation. We are talking about character and value system. If parents bring up their children properly, we won’t hold the clitoris or any part of the female body as reason for indulging in female genital mutilation.”
He also faulted the belief that if a child’s head touches the clitoris during delivery, the child will die.
“They also claim that it is part of our religions as instructed in the Qur’an and the Bible. We go out with clerics and Imams on our advocacy campaigns. No part of the Holy Books that says a female must be mutilated.”
On the claim that it is part of our cultural heritage, Fagorusi said: “Culture is dynamic and changes with civilisation. This is not to discountenance the quality and importance of culture but we are saying that in this particular instance, culture does not stand, especially when there is no medical verification.”
Contributing, Coordinator of Value Re-orientation and Community Enhancement, another non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Oshogbo Osun State, Ademola Adebisi said the trend is common in Yoruba land with 55 per cent in the Southwest and 45 per cent in the Southeast and South-south geo-political zones while the practice is almost extinct in the North.
Adebisi said many children have died in the course of carrying out genital mutilation, urging people to join voices against the inhuman act.
“It is the responsibility of everybody in the society to end female genital mutilation. The men should take it upon themselves and ladies should raise their voices against the callous act. The female gender cannot carry out wage war against the act alone. We need to support them. In Osun State, I approached a community where a woman told me she can’t be sure if any of their female children has not been mutilated. This is wrong,” he said.
Aderonke Ige, a lawyer said it is a crime to remove part of any child’s body.
Urging other states in Nigeria to emulate Oyo State in enacting a law prohibiting female genital mutilation, she said there is a constitutional provision for the girl-child to defend herself.
She said: “Under Violence against Women Prohibition (VAW) Law of Oyo State 2016, a person who carries out harmful traditional practices on another commits an offense and is liable, on conviction, to a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years or to a fine not exceeding N500,000 or both.
“The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, cap IV Section 34 (1) (a) of 1999 indicates that no person shall be subjected to torture, to inhuman or degrading treatment.”
