From Clement Adeyi, Osogbo

Female circumcision otherwise known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the act of removing or cutting part of the female’s genital, particularly the clitoris by circumcisers, especially at infancy.

Practitioners and adherents of the practice which has been generally condemned  to be harmful, savage, archaic  and anti-human, claim that it is engaged in either as a customary rite of initiation into womanhood or as a check against promiscuity.

Those who engage in it as a ‘profession’ are recalcitrant in abandoning it despite campaigns by NGOs, governments and other stakeholders because they eke out a living from the practice.

In other words, they do it secretly, especially in the rural areas and hinterlands.

Traditionalists who believe that it is a part of the culture of their land do not see anything wrong with the practice and are never in support of the efforts being made to eradicate it.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Daily Sun gathered, said the practice is prevalent in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia.

According to a February 2016 report by the UNICEF,  27 countries in Africa are still practising female circumcision.

Among them are Somalia (96 per cent), Guinea (97 per cent), Djibouti (93 per cent), Egypt (91 per cent) and Sierra Leone (90 per cent).

Daily Sun also gathered that as at 2013, about 27.2 million women had undergone FGM in Egypt, while Ethiopia recorded 23.8 million.

In Indonesia, the prevalence rate for children under 11 years  is 13.4 million which translates to  49 per cent.

“Nigeria also ranks among the countries that are still highly involved in the practice with  20 million cases as at 2013.

Daily Sun’s investigations confirmed that six states top the list of prevalence in Nigeria.  Among them are Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, Ebonyi, Imo and Lagos.

Following the health dangers the practice poses to the victims’ health,  the Osun State Government, in collaboration with about 12 communities across four local government areas, have renewed efforts to eradicate the menace in their domains. The communities that declared against FMG include Eko Ende, Eko Ajala, Iba, Asa, Iwo Oke, Ajagunlase, Alapata, Owode, Araromi in Ifelodun, Olaoluwa, Ede North and Orolu Local Government Area.

The move being engineered by Shericare Foundation (SCARF), a social development organisation by the wife of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Sherifat, has instituted a series of campaigns against the practice.

At a recent Female Genital Mutilation Abandonment Declaration Ceremony organised by the foundation which attracted stakeholders, aficionados of arts and culture and NGOs that have also been in the vanguard of the campaigns as well as government representatives, religious leaders, traditional leaders and the practitioners (circumcisers), speeches, lectures and warnings were given to discourage the practice.

Also, the Osun State female circumcision and genital mutilation prohibition law pamphlets were distributed to the teeming crowd that participated in the one day sensitization programme.

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The prohibition law spelt out diverse charges, sanctions and punishment that anybody caught in the act would face.

Following the collaborative efforts, a number of circumcisers from the communities came out openly and took an oath of declaration to abandon the practice.

Governor  Aregbesola who lamented the spate of the practice which he described as wicked and no longer acceptable in a civilized society, declared that government would go the whole hog and halt it totally with a view to ensuring that the state drops off the ladder of the states that rank high in the practice.

“The crux of this advocacy is to expunge female genital mutilation from our belief system. I am glad that we have the cooperation of our traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders and aficionados of arts and culture,” Aregbesola said.

“The core changes must include that: one, it is no longer necessary as a cultural requirement, two, it is indeed harmful and cruel physically and psychologically. The victims, we must note, are our daughters, sisters, aunties, cousins, nieces, wives and mothers,” he added.

“I do not see any other category closer and dearer to us than these and therefore do not deserve to be subjected to this hurtful practice any longer.”

In the same vein, Mrs Aregbesola reaffirmed the foundation’s commitment to achieving zero tolerance on the FGM practice.

She enthused that the foundation had engaged in several activities towards boosting the awareness campaigns to end the practice in every nook and cranny of the state.

Mrs Aregbesola disclosed that the foundation had also committed itself to intensive advocacy in the state against the menace through regular interface with a number of communities, public sensitisation,  jingles on radio, television as well as printing and circulation of the FGM  state law which makes it illegal for anyone to circumcise any female child or any woman in the state.

“The journey to this event started early 2015 when a team of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) officials visited our state. The meeting afforded us the opportunity to appreciate the necessity of collective efforts to wage an intensive and comprehensive awareness campaign against the dangers that continued practice of female circumcision bear for our female children, our women and our people in general,” she said.

“It is true that the practice of female circumcision was rooted in traditional and religious beliefs, but scientific findings have revealed that such beliefs are injurious to life,” she added.

She attributed the public declaration of abandonment of FGM by the 12 communities to the efforts being made by the foundation to abolish the menace.

Mrs Aregbesola also appealed to the residents in the state to always abstain from the act, saying  noting that “female circumcision does not bear any positive fruit but  a basket of dangers and sometimes death to the victims.”

In a remark, the Head of Lagos Liaison Office, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Omolaso Omosehin, commended Aregbesola for his continued support towards eradication of Female Genital Mutilation in the state.

“We recognise the ongoing efforts that the state government and other development actors are undertaking to accelerate the abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation and Circumcision and these efforts are beginning to yield positive results,” Omosehin said.

“One of such is the abandonment of this harmful traditional practice in over 12 communities across four local government areas that account for highest prevalence of FGM in the state

“We commend the efforts of the leaders in championing the end of FGM campaign across the high burdened states in the South West Nigeria as we are aware that over 250 female babies born in these communities from April 2015 till date in Osun were not circumcised.