BY NKECHINYERE OGINYI
The United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, Desk officer, Ebonyi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mr. Emmanuel Nkwuda stated this in Abakaliki, during a review meeting with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) network and selected young people to review the FGM elimination campaign in the state.
The Consensus Building Meeting on the Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the state was organized by the ministry with support from UNICEF, and UNFPA.
Nkwuda, in his presentation, noted that the citizens still indulge in the practice of FGM especially type four because of the inabilities of the people to accept paradigm shifts in the culture.
He said to achieve the goal of the partners, an aggressive campaign against FGM will be taken to the rural areas.
He said, "people are yet to accept the paradigm shift, that it is no longer good to do their cultural activities without mutilating our girl child.
"What it means is that we need to step up our interventions by carrying out aggressive campaigns to the community people even among the elite you discover that some people are still doing it.
"Ignorance is another thing, there are a lot of interventions UNICEF has done and as partners, we have done a lot of sensitization, awareness creations in schools but unfortunately, we discovered that this thing is still going on. It appears that people are still ignorant we have to conduct another aggressive campaign to the community people.
According to the desk officer, Ebonyi is at 5.2% and Imo is close to Ebonyi which means what is peculiar to Ebonyi is peculiar to Imo.
"It is high in imo but we want to address the case of Ebonyi. So many traditional rulers have condemned it, 88 communities have publicly declared FGM abandonment yet people are still doing it that was why I said ignorance is another thing, we need to step up sensitize people more".
Commissioner for women's affairs in the state, Mrs. Chinwe Okah, said the meeting would play a useful role in providing the government with needed knowledge, credible and independent information about the status of the FGM elimination campaign in Ebonyi.
The commissioner represented by the head of Child development, Mr. Godwin Igwe emphasized that "the CSO will make recommendations on how to improve End FGM campaign in line with the national policy and plan of action on eliminating FGM in Nigeria.
Dr. Jerry Nweze a child health specialist in a federal teaching hospital Abakaliki in his submission noted that the practice of FGM type 1, and 4 is rampant in the state. And called for community advocacy in the hinterland with the driving force to end the phenomenon.
Meanwhile, the recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2016 -2017) shows some decline in the incidence of FGM in Nigeria, 18.4% of women aged 15-49 years now undergo FGM; a decrease from 27% in 2011. UNICEF and partners’ interventions to ensure the elimination of FGM by 2030 has resulted in a break in the barrier against discussing FGM publicly. Religious leaders, community stakeholders, and young people now speak out against this practice in the state.
