2017 anti-FGM campaign: When Ekiti stakeholders’ rally turned street debate

Female genital mutilation (FGM) also known as “female genital cutting (FGC),”  “female circumcision” or “female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)” is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 1997, as “any partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or any other injury to the female genital organ for nonmedical reasons.”  February 6 was set by the UN as International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM and its commemoration in Ekiti State was unique, Sam Nwaoko reports. 

Various women stakeholders in Ekiti State, including doctors, nurses and sundry health workers; civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), journalists, lawyers, market leaders, academics etc, joined in the commemoration of the 2017 International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, held in the state. The stakeholders’ awareness campaign and march, in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, turned out to be an interesting street parade that attracted tens of interested and curious locals, who were also keen to listen to the various experts and sundry stakeholders, on the topic.

Many of the citizens that were attracted by the colourful street parade were not prepared to be just onlookers. They were obviously willing to participate in and gain from the campaign against female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C), a vexed health and social issue indeed. To underscore the fact that some of the locals were really triggered, they had engaged the ‘stop FGM’ campaigners through their questions and comments, in what turned out to be a spontaneous debate on the FGM/C, right there on the street.

The groups, which included International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), led by Mrs Adefunke Anoma; Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), led by Mrs. Oluwayomi Osuntokun; Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), led by Dr Sunday Omoya; Women Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS), led by Chief (Mrs) Babalola; Women in Technical Education (WITED), Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti and the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, had gathered at the Polytechnic Road end of the popular Matthew Roundabout in Ado Ekiti.

They had been joined by other notable individuals such as the Chief Medical Director of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Dr Kolawole Ogundipe; a popular gynecologist and women rights campaigner in Ekiti State, Dr. Pius Ade Ojo and the Iyaloja of Ado Ekiti and President of Iyalojas in Ekiti State, Chief Omowaye Oso. Also, the Principal of EKSUTH School of Nursing, Mrs. T. O. Bamigboye, had also led tens of smartly-dressed nurses to join in the march while female Law students of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti (EKSU) were also not left out.

The crowd that had been attracted by the colourful campaign was the most active. The people had adequately engaged the campaigning anti-FGM experts and stakeholders with their curiosity and questions that bordered on cultural and religious beliefs, superstitions and health concerns.

The experts had highlighted why female genital mutilation and cutting which, in plain language, could simply be defined as female circumcision, is bad and of no known benefit to the female child. They had also listed the health implications of the objectionable act and explained them in as plain Yoruba language as possible for better understanding. The crowd had been told that FGM/C had serious implications for the sexual and reproductive health of girls and women. The explanations had included the fact that the cutting causes severe pain, shock, haemorrhage (i.e. excessive bleeding, sepsis, difficulty in passing urine, infections, death).

The audience had also been reminded that female genital mutilation (FGM) had been outlawed in Ekiti State since 2002, when the then Governor Adeniyi Adebayo signed the law. Copies of the law entitled: “A Law to Prohibit Female Circumcision or Genital Mutilation in Ekiti State” were also freely distributed by Balm in Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development (BUGIF), a woman-led and youth-led NGO focussed on enhancing healthy living and promotion of rights of the people. The law prescribed a jail term of two years or a fine of N10,000 for the first offender while subsequent conviction carries a jail term of three years without an option of fine.

Following the enlightenment talk by an expert from the Ekiti State Ministry of Health, some members of the Idofin Street crowd were already eager to raise their questions, which turned out to include their questioning of some of the things they’ve just heard, mostly on the grounds of religion and culture.

Seventy-year-old Mr. Adedayo Dada, who said he is better known as ‘Dantata’, was the first to engage the anti-FGM campaigners. He went biblical and had wanted to know if what he had heard the experts say was “the will of God.” He was told that the bible did not tell of or record any female that was circumcised, as against the clear instruction that the male child should be circumcised by the eighth day.

Following Dantata was Mrs Fayose Oluyede, whose questions bothered on what she said they had heard “from our mothers” that “ladies who are not circumcised are promiscuous and that when she’s having a baby, her child’s head must not touch her clitoris otherwise the baby would die. What about that?” She didn’t even leave her questions as questions, she had wanted the anti-FGM campaigners to accept her convictions!

She was however confronted with facts against her beliefs. She was also told of statistics from research among sex workers, which had proven that most of those sampled were even those that had undergone FGM. A UNICEF document said: “A survey of brothels in selected cities in Nigeria and Sudan, Ajere (1998) and Obianyo (1997), respectively, found out that nearly all the women who were female sex workers had been genitally mutilated.”

But a tenacious Peter Falade would have none of the no-FGM campaign and its startling statistics. He had repeatedly argued that it was “our culture and what our ancestors instructed that we do for our own good.” He heard responses in the Ekiti variant of the Yoruba language from a concerned doctor, who saw through the man’s obstinacy and why he needs help to understand what was being said. He was even told of the law against the female circumcision that is in force in the state.

Chairman of NMA in Ekiti State, Dr. Sunday Omoya, said previous campaigns on health issues such as the Ebola virus and Lassa fever were successful because of the attitudinal change they caused among the people. “I am optimistic that this campaign too will trigger our people into looking again at FGM because of its numerous implications we have laid before them and also the legal consequences if they are caught,” Dr. Omoya said.

Dr. Ade Ojo, a female health and rights campaigner, and who also runs the famous Mother and Child clinics in Ado Ekiti, had witnessed the street engagement and had commended the outing. He said “the anti-FGM campaign must be sustained; we must not relent in enlightenments such as this anti-FGM rally because we’ve seen that some of our people still hold to some of these cultural that are harmful to female health and rights and they don’t want to let go.”

UNICEF said “in many cultures, female genital mutilation/cutting is a recognised and accepted practice that is considered important for the socialisation of women, curbing their sexual appetites and preparing them for marriage. It is considered part of a ritual initiation into womanhood that includes a period of seclusion and education about the rights and duties of a wife. Despite its cultural importance, FGM/C has drawn considerable criticism because of the potential for both short and long-term medical complications, as well as harm to reproductive health and infringement on women’s rights.” (Toubia, 1995).

None of those who engaged the experts on the street could tell any health benefit of FGM, neither could they counter the experts’ submissions. It is hoped that the campaigns would help stop female genital mutilation and cutting.