Reproductive Health Expert Comments On Oyo’s Female Genital Mutilation (FMG) Situation

This year’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FMG) turned attention on reproductive health issues in the country.

In Oyo State, where the day was co-organised by the Oyo State Correspondents’ Chapel, the efforts of the Oyo State government with female genital mutilation was inescapable on the front burner.

Speaking, Director, Centre for Comprehensive Promotion of Reproductive Health (CCPRH) at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan Professor Oladosu Ojengbede, spoke up on the efforts of the Oyo State government.

Commending the administration for demonstrating what he described as leadership roles, he submitted that it succeeded in reducing its Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) prevalence from 65 per cent to 18 per cent.

Juxtaposing this with the situation pan-Nigeria, he said FGM’s prevalence had declined to 14 per cent nationally, while that of Oyo State, which was previously 65 per cent, has declined to 18 per cent.

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“Oyo State has demonstrated leadership in reducing FGM prevalence, so the task before us now is to protect these gains and accelerate progress towards zero.

“Let Oyo State continue to lead, not only in reducing prevalence, but in showing what is possible when political will, community action, and smart investment come together,” he said.

Attributing recorded progress to the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme, advocacy, legislation, community engagement and survivor leadership, among others, he however called for caution.

He said sustained commitment and investment are needed to see FGM through to the very end in Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Oyo State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Abiodun Aikomo, said the state has a robust Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law, and that those convicted of FGM-related breaches could bag as much as four years in jail or N500,000 fine.

“The objective of the law is to prevent violence against persons, so if people can cultivate the culture of speaking out, we will be able to prosecute and secure the conviction of FGM offenders”, Aikomo, represented by Mrs Olajumoke Yusuf, Coordinator, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence at the Ministry of Justice added.