The Ekiti State government has empowered no fewer than 170 persons who renounced female genital mutilation across the 16 Local Government Areas as part of measures to discourage the obsolete and harmful practice.
They were handed grants worth N42,500,000 million to the 170 former practitioners as part of efforts to discourage Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the state.
The beneficiaries of the grants who were given the sum of N250,000 each publicly handed over their trade tools to the wife of the governor at the ‘Drop the Blade Initiative’, which took place in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday.
Addressing the beneficiaries, Mrs Bisi Fayemi, said the grant was to discourage the former practitioners from returning to the harmful practice having denounced the trade.
Mrs Fayemi who reiterated the state government’s zero-tolerance for gender-based violence and female genital mutilation explained that the government would not hesitate to clamp down on people who still practise the trade which is seen as violence against girls.
She said a minimum N250,000 grant given to each of the former practitioners was a start-up capital for them to start a profitable business venture that would not be harmful to society.
According to her, “this would be the second time government would empower former female circumcision practitioners in the State as part of efforts to discourage the dastardly act.
“We are empowering these women today to take them away from the illegal business. If what they were gaining from female circumcision was why they could not let go of the job, we are ready to empower them.”
Speaking at the event, the permanent secretary ministry of health and human services, Mr Akinjide Akinleye, expressed displeasure that Ekiti State has the highest prevalence of FGM in Southern Nigeria, urging the people to complement the synergy of the governor’s wife to eradicate FGM practice in the State by not going back to the renounced unlawful act.
Also, the Director-General, Ekiti State Micro-Finance and Enterprise Development Agency(MEDA), Kayode Fasae, advised the beneficiaries against frivolous spending but to engage in self-reliant businesses.
One of the beneficiaries who spoke on behalf of others, Mrs Funmilayo Adedeji, thanked the government for putting up such an initiative to assist them, assuring the government that they would not go back to the dangerous practice.
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Ekiti empowers 170 female genital mutilators with N42.5m
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