FGM survivors, ex-practitioners advocate for tougher penalties

Dayo Johnson, Chioma Obinna & Rotimi Ojomoyela

Survivors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and erstwhile practitioners connected Thursday condemned the harmful practice, debunking the story that it prevents promiscuity and intersexual immorality.

Instead, they emphasised the terrible carnal and affectional trauma it inflicts connected women and girls.

The survivors and ex-practitioner are present advocating for an extremity to FGM, highlighting the urgent request for corporate enactment to support the rights and well-being of girls and women

Speaking astatine the two-day media dialog organised by the Oyo State Ministry of Information and Orientation successful collaboration with UNICEF held successful Benin, Edo State, a Survivor, Blessing Ogo said the achy acquisition has near her struggling to bask intersexual intimacy with her partner.

Ogo described FGM arsenic barbaric and unnecessary, urging those progressive successful the signifier to stop, saying the trauma inactive lingers, making her consciousness little feminine.

She noted that the cutting comes with carnal complications, terrible pain, excessive bleeding, infections, urinary issues, menstrual problems, affectional trauma, intelligence effects, including anxiety, depression, Sexual Health Issues, intersexual dysfunction

The survivors l, appealed to the authorities and stakeholders to collaborate with UNICEF arsenic good arsenic different organisations to eradicate FGM.

They called for stringent penalties for those impact successful the practice.

Also speaking, a erstwhile practitioner of FGM, Bridget Omobude said the signifier was passed down to her by her large grandma but stopped aft galore years that she was enlightened connected the harmful escapade by her ain daughter.

Omobude said, “When I joined this programme I was blessed to beryllium with the children. My household has ever cared for children, it’s a contented passed down from my great-grandmother to my parent and present to us. When they brought the children for the service, we held them truthful we could larn however to attraction for them properly.

“There person been hard moments. At 1 constituent the authorities intervened and I told my girl she should not telephone maine again.

” I retrieve being confused and asking wherever she had gone and wherefore she would artifact me. Then the constabulary came and told america to halt cutting.

“But erstwhile this programme was brought to us, it made maine blessed again I felt joyousness successful taking portion and going to school”.

A Cleric, Pastor Ken Izah said the fastest mode to eradicate the harmful signifier successful the state is to instrumentality corporate responsibility, stressing that FGM was nary wherever approved and accepted by God successful the Bible.

Izah assured UNICEF that the spiritual instauration volition proceed to enactment the organisation and different groups advocating for the eradication of FGM, noting that nary women merit to unrecorded an unfulfilled life.

“The feeling I person is thing deep. By the grace of God, I americium your begetter successful faith. When we speech astir circumcision, I judge we indispensable instrumentality work to accidental nary to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). It has to stop.

“From the Bible’s standpoint, God does not enactment it. In Genesis 17 verse 10, God told Abraham that circumcision was to beryllium a motion of the covenant — for Ishmael and for each antheral child.

“But Sarah was not circumcised. That unsocial makes it clear: pistillate genital mutilation has nary spot successful the Bible, nary spot successful God’s plan, and truthful nary spot successful our community”.

Speaking, Denise Onoise, the Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, Lagos Office, said that the testaments from the survivors and erstwhile practitioners are capable grounds that the FGM is not lone harmful but unsafe to the lives and livelihoods of women and much consciousness inactive request to beryllium done to nip the unsafe signifier successful the bud.

Onoise said that “we request to further grow what we are doing for consciousness reason, we request to scope retired to assemblage members, particularly assemblage leaders who are capable to telephone assemblage members unneurotic and accidental we privation to wantonness this practice...