Female Genital Circumcision: Breaking the Culture

Although the National Assembly recently passed a bill criminalising female genital mutilation, enforcement is still needed to achieve results.....

female genital

"As I am going to succeed my late father as the traditional ruler of our town, it becomes more mandatory for my children to be circumcised. Here in our land, it is part of the prerequisites of a king-to-be to have all his children circumcised.
"We really do not have a choice here. But my fiancée sees the practice as barbaric and outdated. She won’t have any of it for our daughters." Those were the words of Mr. Ganiu-Davies Olalekan Adisa, the heir apparent to the Ishawo throne sometime in April this year.

Adisa's grouse was that his fiancée, Miss Oluwakemi Opeyemi Ganiu, had absconded with their three children-two girls and a boy. Her decision to stay off radar was to protect her female children from being circumcised by the royal family.
She has rather vowed not to allow anyone, including her fiancée, to carry out any circumcision rites on her daughters.

The Crux of the Matter
The crux of the matter is on the then brewing war between the royal family of Ganiu-Davies in Ishawo, and the Ganiu family over the decision to circumcise the two girls aged three. This has since turned sour the once warm relationship between both families.
According to the information made available to THISDAY, Oluwakemi, had disagreed with the Ganiu-Davies's family decision to perform the traditional circumcision rites on her daughters.
When attempts to perform the rites by all means reached its crescendo, and she took her kids and fled the Ganiu-Davies’s family house in Ishawo in August 2014 and till now, her whereabouts remains unknown.
Speaking in the report, Adisa who is torn between obeying his culture or reconciling with his fiancée and kids had this to say: "My fiancée, Oluwakemi Opeyemi Ganiu and I met in January 31, 2009 and we love each other but haven’t mar­ried legally.
                   
"We were cohabiting and eventually had three kids; a boy and twin girls. Things went on smoothly between us till I lost my father who was a traditional ruler in Ishawo, my hometown.
"I received the message of the death of our royal father and was told I had been picked as his successor. So, I went home for the burial rites and took my wife-to-be and our children with me, actually to ensure that my extended family get to know her. We traveled to Ishawo on June 20, 2014.
“However, we didn’t know that a shocker was awaiting us at Ishawo. My family demanded that we submit our children for circumcision rites. Oluwakemi, my wife-to-be, didn’t like this arrangement at all.
"She didn’t particularly want our daughters, who were then three years and one month old to be circumcised as she said she didn’t like that.
“But my people won’t be persuaded to spare our daughters of the treatment because our tradition forbids any of our blood not being administered the circumcision rites.
“My fiancée has since fled with our daughters since the disagreement in Ishawo. As I’m going to succeed my late father as the traditional ruler of our town, it becomes more mandatory for my children to be circumcised.
"Here in our land, it is part of the prerequisites of a king-to-be to have all his children circumcised. We really do not have a choice here. But my fiancée sees the practice as barbaric and outdated. She won’t have any of it for our daughters.
"That is why she ran away with our daughters. Also run with our son. I want to be­lieve her people arranged her escape and know her where­abouts but they are claiming ignorance of it.
"We once heard she was in her mother’s custody in one Bethel Love Church in Abeokuta, Ogun State. My people went there but she escaped from them and fled to an unknown place with the children and hasn’t been seen since then. I am just confused about the whole development."
Also raising an alarm recently, the royal family through a representative, one Chief Olu Olaoye, had said Oluwakemi's decision to flee was not in the best interest of the royal family.
According to him, the issue of circumcision is a mandatory culture to be practiced on all females in the community. He noted that more so as a royal family, the onus lies on them to preserve the cultural integrity of their land and set a workable precedence and example for the community members.
He said, “She is not helping us, neither is she helping our daughters she has taken away. There are certain cultural practices that we adhere to in our land; some are avoidable while others are not.
"This practice of circumcision is part of the unavoidable ones. Oluwakemi Opeyemi cannot prevent us from carrying out cultural and traditional rites on our own blood.
"It is a must that we do the circumcision rites for the girls. More so, as we have a princess and a daughter from the royal fami­ly of Ishawo and possibly a future regent!
“We have told them (Oluwakemi’s family) that they must ensure that they produce her because she cannot prevent us from performing our traditional duties. She must bring our daughters for the circum­cision rites."
However, a member of Oluwakemi's family was quoted to have said, "As for the Ganiu's family, we have no problem with whatever the Ganiu-Davies's family wants to do with their daughters.
"In our part of the world, it is the man who owns the child and has the final say over him or her. But our daughter, Oluwakemi is more western-oriented than many of us. She has vowed not to allow any circumcision on her daughters.
"She says the practice might have an adverse effect on the girls in the future. We would have been able to intervene in the matter to ensure that peace reigns but right now, I can swear to you that we do not even know the whereabouts of Oluwakemi and her children.
"In fact, we learnt that she took her little son along where she was but we do not have any idea of where that is. There was a time she took refuge with her mother in a church in Abeokuta.
"The mother assisted in getting the hu­man rights group to intervene for peaceful resolution of the matter, but the fiancé’s family became violent about the mat­ter to the extent that even when her mother died, they wanted to get their daughters by all means.
"We learnt that Oluwakemi narrowly escaped the attack on her and ran off with her daughters and her baby boy. We can only appeal to our in-laws to exercise patience on this issue till God makes Oluwakemi to come back, right now, there is nothing anyone can do."
About Female Genital Mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) otherwise known as circumcision according to one Emmanuel Ajibulu, a social commentator and a communication strategist,
is an old traditional practice still being practiced in parts of Nigeria, making it one of the 27 countries in Africa where FGM is still being celebrated.
He said, "FGM is an invasive and painful surgical procedure that is often performed without anesthetic on the girl-child before puberty. In some instances an adult female who probably escaped FGM during childhood would be forced to be circumcised before her marriage.
"Their prepuce is removed and their clitoris may be partially or completely removed. In some traditions the operation is far more invasive; the labia minora are also surgically removed and the labia majora are sewn together, covering the urethra and vagina. A small opening is retained for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid."
Quoting reports released by the Office of the Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues, Office of the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State, June 2001, an article he wrote on FGM broke it down to categories.
He said, "Types or categories of this pre-marital custom are clearly enunciated in different forms. However the organisation distinctively stated that they are unaware of any support groups to protect an unwilling woman or girl against this practice.
"They are: Type I (commonly referred to as clitoridectomy), Type II (commonly referred to as excision) and Type III (commonly referred to as infibulation) are the most common forms of female genital mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting (FGC) practiced in Nigeria.
"Type IV is practiced to a much lesser extent. The form practiced varies by ethnic group and geographical location. It crosses the numerous population groups and is a part of the many cultures, traditions and customs that exist in Nigeria.
"Attitudes, beliefs and misconception available records have it that the Women's Centre for Peace and Development (WOPED) has concluded that Nigerians continue this practice out of adherence to a cultural dictate with erroneous and fallacious views that uncircumcised women are promiscuous, unclean, unmarriageable, physically undesirable and/or potential health risks to themselves and their children, especially during childbirth. One traditional belief is that if a male child's head touches the clitoris during childbirth, the child will die."

FGM Prevalence in Africa
Speaking on the prevalence, Ajibulu said, "Various sources estimate that from about 60 to 140 million women in the world have been circumcised. An average of about four girls a minute continue to be mutilated."
His assertions are collaborated by the statistics released by Amnesty International, Demographic Health Survey (DHS), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Department of State and World Health Organisation (WHO), which state that the prevalence of FGM is quite high in many countries with Indonesia claiming 100 per cent.
The collective statistics from all these bodies include Benin Republic, which recorded 16.8 per cent prevalence, Burkina Faso with 76.6 per cent and Cameroon with just one per cent.
Also, Central Africa Republic was 35.9 per cent, Ethiopia 79.9 per cent, while Chad had 44.9 per cent and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) 44.5 per cent, as well as Djibouti with 90- 98 per cent.
While the statistics for Congo is unknown, Egypt recorded 93.7 per cent, Eritrea 88.7 per cent, and Gambia 60-90 per cent, while Ghana recorded 5.4 per cent.
Also, Guinea has 98.6 per cent, Indonesia 100 percent, Kenya 32.2 per cent, Liberia 50 per cent, Mali 91.6 per cent, with Mauritania recording 71.5 per cent.
In Niger, the prevalence is 4.5 per cent, with Nigeria having 19 per cent, Senegal 28.2 per cent, Sierra Leone between 80-90 per cent, Somalia 90-98 per cent, Sudan 90 per cent, Tanzania 17.7 per cent, Togo 12 per cent, Uganda was five per cent and Yemen at 22.6 per cent.
Bringing it Home
But in Ajibulu's report, he focused on the prevalence of FGM in Nigeria. He however admitted that with its over 250 ethnic groups and an estimated population of 150 million, a national estimate of this practice is very difficult.
Quoting a 1999 Demographic and Health Survey of 8,205 women nationally, he said the survey estimates that 25.1 percent of the women of Nigeria have undergone one of these procedures.
Also quoting a 1997 World Health Organization (WHO) study, he said an estimated 30,625 million women and girls, or about 60 per cent of the nation's total female population, have undergone one of these forms.
He also said another 1996 United Nations Development Systems study reported a similar number of 32.7 million Nigerian women affected. Also quoting a Nigerian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Coalition study, he said 33 per cent of all households practice one of these forms.
He wrote, "However, according to some Nigerian experts in the field, the actual incidence may be much higher than these figures. Leaders of the Nigerian National Committee (also the Inter-African Committee of Nigeria on Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC) have been conducting a state by state study of the practice.
"This 1997 study by the Center for Gender and Social Policy Studies of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife was contracted in 1996 by a number of organizations including WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Nigerian Federal Health Ministry.
"The study covered 148,000 women and girls from 31 community samples nationwide. The results from fragmented data, according to IAC/Nigeria, show the following prevalence and type in the following states in Nigeria."
Breaking down the prevalence state by state he wrote, "Abia (no study); Adamawa (60-70 percent, Type IV); Akwa Ibom (65-75 percent, Type II); Anambra (40-60 percent, Type II); Bauchi (50-60 percent, Type IV); Benue (90-100 percent, Type II) and Borno (10-90 percent, Types I, III and IV).
"Cross River (no study); Delta (80-90 percent, Type II); Edo (30-40 percent, Type II); Enugu (no study); Imo (40-50 percent, Type II); Jigawa (60-70 percent, Type IV); Kaduna (50-70 percent, Type IV); Katsina (no study); Kano (no study); Kebbi (90-100 percent, Type IV); Kogi (one percent, Type IV); Kwara (60-70 percent, Types I and II); Lagos (20-30 percent, Type I); Niger (no study) and Ogun (35-45 percent, Types I and II).
"Ondo (90-98 percent, Type II); Osun (80-90 percent, Type I); Oyo (60-70 percent, Type I); Plateau (30-90 percent, Types I and IV); Rivers (60-70 percent, Types I and II); Sokoto (no study); Taraba (no study); Yobe (0-1 percent, Type IV); Fct Abuja (no study).
"While all three forms occur throughout the country, Type III, the most severe form (narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and repositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora, with or without excision of the clitoris), has a higher incidence in the northern states.
"Type II and Type I are more predominant in the south. Of the six largest ethnic groups, the Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Ibo, Ijaw and Kanuri, only the Fulani do not practice any form. The Yoruba practice mainly Type II and Type I. The Hausa and Kanuri practice Type III. The Ibo and Ijaw, depending upon the local community, practice any one of the three forms."
A Long Journey
With civilisation, many cultures were either modified or dropped in entirety. Cultures like killing of twins, prohibiting kids from eating meat and so many others were eradicated but not FGM, which still exists in some communities.
As far back as 2002, there were talks by the Nigerian legislature to outlaw FGM and impose a two-year jail term for offenders, although it allows for an option of a fine of $100 (£69 or €111) or the imposition of both a fine and incarceration of six months.
The reason for the global stand against FGM is the dangers it poses to the victims. From severe pains caused by lack of anesthesia, to shock, excessive bleeding, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and even death.
According to research, the House of Representatives actually unanimously passed the bill in 2001 before it was sent to the Senate to pass the bill.
Reports said the Senate was expected to conclude its deliberations on the bill in May of 2002 and then send it to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo for his assent. It is however unclear what happened and the bill was not passed as projected.
The first clause of the bill prohibiting circumcision of girls and women says "No person shall circumcise a girl or woman and no person shall abet or aid the circumcision of any girl or woman."
A Step in the Right Direction
Finally, after much delay, the then Senate finally put words to action and passed the bill to criminalise FGM. The bill which is called 'Violence against Persons (Prohibition)' seeks to prohibit female circumcision or genital mutilation, forceful ejection from home and harmful widowhood practices.
Sponsored by the Leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba, the bill also prohibits abandonment of spouse, children and other dependents without sustenance, battery and harmful traditional practices.
According to the details in the bill, it is also intended to eliminate violence in private and public life and provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims of violence, and punishment of offenders.
The bill also prohibits forced isolation, depriving persons of their liberty, economic abuse, incest, separation from family and friends, substance attack and indecent exposure, among others.
The Senate sitting which was presided by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the passage of the bill would provide adequate protection for the vulnerable in the society and punish those who take undue advantage of them.
Commending the senators and other stakeholders for their efforts in ensuring that the bill was passed, he said it is a good step in the fight against violence in the society.
“The primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and as a responsible arm of government, our primary responsibility is to enact laws that will not only protect our people, but also protect their property.
“Today, we have discharged one of our responsibilities to the vulnerable in terms of violence. Congratulations for this achievement," he said.
So, with the law criminalising FGM, it definitely behooves the executive to enforce the laws passed by the legislature, even as community leaders should be engaged to help raise awareness on the dangers of the age-old cultural practice. 

by Chiemelie Ezeobi