By Gift Olivia Samuel The Sight News
ABUJA: As Nigeria joins the global community to commemorate the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen has called for more convictions of perpetrators to serve as deterrent to others.
This is just as she said, that available statistics reveal that Nigeria has the highest number of cases on FGM in the world, accounting for about 115 million out of 130 million circumcised women worldwide.
The Minister who stated this on Friday at a Joint Ministerial Media Session to flag off activities marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), pointed out that the South-South zone with 77% among adult women, has the highest prevalence practice in Nigeria, followed by the South East zone with 68% and South West zone with 65%, adding that the Northern part of Nigeria is also not free from this practice
She remarked that February 6 every year is set aside to create awareness on the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation across countries in the world, and this year’s theme, “No Time for Global Inaction: Unite, Fund and Act to End Female Genital Mutilation”, speaks to the collective responsibilities in the campaign against FGM.
According to her, “Eliminating FGM is crucial to realizing many of the other Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), including targets on health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth.
“While the practice of FGM continues, girls and women are denied quality education, opportunities for decent work and their health including (sexual and reproductive) and well-being are threatened. This practice violates their human right to bodily integrity”, she said.
She harped on the need to work together to provide an enabling environment to support the victims through making FGM related services free and increase the awareness on the health and social impact of these practices on the economy.
The Minister revealed that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has made remarkable progress in the crusade to eradicate FGM and other Harmful Practices with support from UNFPA in the following areas: Engagement with State Governors, notable women leaders, traditional/religious leaders, state House of Assembly members, young boys and girls, media, private sectors and professional bodies on ending all forms of Harmful Practices that are against women and girls in Sokoto, Oyo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Kwara and Gombe states.
And also the establishment of Surveillance system and mobilization of FGM champions to deliver door to door household discussions with community groups for the FGM in Oyo and Osun State in the year, as well as Community Consensus Building and Public declaration of FGM Abandonment in Oyo, Osun and Ekiti State to get data of communities that are ready to abandon the FGM practice and also data of the communities that are yet to consent for abandonment of FGM practice, as well as build a consensus and to sensitize those communities that are yet to abandon FGM practices in the community.
While commending the efforts of all their partners from the UN Agencies, Civil Societies, the Media, the private sector and individuals, she stated that they will go a step further to engage with UNFPA, UNICEF, Population Council and other willing allies to ensure that they develop Standard Operating Procedures and Referral Pathways to support case management.
“The Ministry will continue to collaborate with the relevant stakeholders, agencies, Traditional/Religious leaders, Market Women and the general public to establish strong coordination amongst them in the area of making sure there’s zero tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation cases for prompt response, treatment and justice”, she said.
For her part, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Resident Representative, Ms. Ulla Mueller, disclosed that globally, progress will require some $2.4 billion over the next decade, which breaks down to less than $100 per girl. However, most of this money has yet to be raised.
She emphasized that Nigeria must join the global commitment efforts and ensure budget lines for FGM and other forms of GBV are clear in the annual budgets.
“We need to ensure that girls have access to education, health care – including sexual and reproductive health services – and livelihoods, and that they are protected by laws, policies and new social norms. Let us encourage the leadership skills of adolescent girls. Simply put, if gender equality were a reality, there would be no female genital mutilation”, she said.
Furthermore, she noted the need for all to ACT to Support Transformative Change through Gender-transformative approaches that tackle the structures, policies and harmful gender norms that perpetuate the practice, and to improve knowledge gap by improving data collection and investing in a global research agenda to ensure no one is left behind.
“UNFPA is here to UNITE, we have committed funds to address FGM and WE Will continue to ACT because we have Zero Tolerance to GBV and Harmful Practices, Zero Tolerance to Unmet Need for Family Planning and Zero Tolerance to Maternal Mortality”, Mueller said.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Ambassador Anthonia Ekpa while expressing gladness that Nigeria is joining the rest of the world to create awareness on the matter of FGM, stressed that the commemoration is a time that avail all actors the opportunity to ensure that issues relating to women are brought to the limelight.
