Hacey Health Initiative, a non-governmental organization, has advocated for long-term efforts among all stakeholders to end female genital mutilation.
Bamidele Oyewunmi, a Hacey representative, lamented the widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), which he said caused irreversible damage to victims and violated their rights, and called on governments to take necessary steps, including reviewing the implementation and enforcement of FGM policies and laws.
“The state government can guarantee that all policies and regulations already extant are tightened, including the implementation of fines as stipulated in the legal documents,” Oyewunmi said at a one-day capacity development workshop on FGM laws and policies in Ado Ekiti. This will inform individuals about the hazards of doing FGM/C.”
Hacey, on the other hand, urged community members, media organizations, NGOs, and religious community leaders/influencers to engage with members on a regular basis to educate them about FGM, how to end the practice, and the need to encourage victims to speak up.
A speaker, Mrs Olukemi Akinleye of Ekiti State Ministry of Health, who said that the workshop was targeted at building capacity for media personnel as major stakeholders in curbing the menace, said, “We want to encourage people to speak out whenever they see people perpetrating this act. When this is reported, the government will take necessary action against it.
“We still notice that people are still doing it for cultural beliefs and traditions. We want to use this medium to encourage people that FGM is an act that brings a lot of consequences to the girl child and women. It has to stop,” she said.
Legal expert and Head of Ekiti State Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Rita Ilevbare, who spelled out punitive measures for breach of the state anti-FGM law, said, “We want people to know that there is a law and how it works. The essence of the law is not to fold hands and allow this gender-based violence to take place but programmed towards prevention.
“More importantly, the citizens need to know that there is a law that has punitive effect, especially FGM. The penalty is nothing less than two years imprisonment and nothing less than N200,000 fine,” Ilevbare.
