Osun Reiterates Commitment To Eradication Of Female Genital Mutilation

A call has gone out to the National Circumcision Association of Nigeria to put a stop to female genital mutilation/circumcision (FGM/C) in the country.
The act was described as barbaric, inhuman and violation of women and girl-child.
Osun State Commissioner for Women and Children Affaiirs, Mrs. Mofolake Adetoun Adegboyega, made the call at the inauguration of state technical working committee on elimination of female genital mutilation/circumcision.
At the programme organised by UNFPA/UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministries of Women and Children Affairs and Health, the commissioner expressed profound gratitude to the technical partners for the inclusion of the State of Osun in the project to be executed in Nigeria.
On the girl child who is the main focus of FGM/C, she reiterated that the state government has enacted a law against the practice, and that the government will continue to carry out and support programmes to fight and eradicate harmful practices in the state.
According to Mrs. Adegboyega, female genital mutilation, aside from being a serious human rights violation of women and girls, also has grave health consequences.
As such it is necessary that the practice be totally eliminated in the state, she added.
She described FGM/C as procedures involving partial or total removal of the female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religion or other non-therapeutic reasons.
Statistically, she stated that there is an existing policy for the elimination of FGM in 2002, that it has not appreciably achieved its aims and objectives, and that by UNICEF survey in 2010, the state has the highest prevalent rate of 82.8 percent in the South West.
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