From Olufemi Olusegun, Lagos
A recent incident in Agege, Lagos State, left a woman Aishatu Usman in pains and tears as she lost her nine-month-old son to the crude hands of death. According to a Punch newspaper publication of Sunday, September 10, 2017, the little boy died due to genital circumcision that went wrong as his penis was cut off halfway. The horrific incident occurred as a result of poor medical expertise and the indigent status of Aishatu Usman who could not afford a decent medical attention during her pregnancy and delivery, hence consulted a local traditional midwife who helped in the delivery and consequent circumcision of the newborn baby.
This is not the first time such incident would occur, though not usually reported.
Bose Ahmed, a 32-year-old fashion designer who resides in Mowe, Ogun State, narrated how she got to know her medical problems, including painful sexual intercourse, which makes her dread intimacy with her spouse, developed from the cutting and hollowing out of her clitoris by her parents shortly after she was born. This type of genital mutilation is a common traditional and religious practice in Nigeria and many other African countries. According to strongly held beliefs in these countries, the procedure, crudely done with locally-made basic sharp cutting implement like blades and knives under no anesthesia for the victim or sterilization of the knives even when repeatedly used on many victims on same day, kills off libidinal inclination or sexual urges in young girls, which make them stay off sex, commonly derided as “loose behaviours” in Nigeria.
Bose Ahmed told The Dream Daily Newspaper: “Because my parents are Muslims (Christians also do it as genital mutilation or circumcision is really traditional – rather than an imported religious practice – to many of these ethnic groups in Nigeria and other African countries) and due to their held belief in the doctrine of raising their children in a decent and upright way, they subjected their children to this cruel practice of circumcising all of us, both boys and girls.
“It’s us, the girls, that are most affected. So many times, sex is such a painful experience for me, while my friends would tell me otherwise. I know my problem has to do with the circumcision I had at my early age. It has affected my love life as I have found it difficult to keep a relationship that can last longer than I wish. Even when I feel like having sex with my partner, the thought of the excruciating pains would make me to turn it down. Some parents don’t look beyond their present desires when they are making plans that can affect their children’s future negatively.”
Bose Ahmed is one in millions among boys and girls that are living through the horror and agony of genital mutilation. Mostly prevalent in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Both the female genital mutilation (FGM) and the male genital mutilation (MGM) have become a menace that must be curbed as it is becoming a health risk worldwide.
According to Wikipedia, “female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within communities from countries in which FGM is common. UNICEF estimated in 2016 that 200 million women living today in 30 countries – 27 African countries, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen – have undergone the procedures.”
In Nigeria, both practices occur but the one with adverse effect is the FGM which is widely practiced, as culture and religion have serious influences in the way of life of the people. From the northern part of the country to the south, FGM is a traditional norm which various non-governmental organisations and even the World Health Organization (WHO) have been kicking against.
Surprisingly, in supposedly modern, westernised places like Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ebonyi and Imo states in the south, this ancient practice is also prevalent. Reports of MGM and FGM have continue to appear in the media from large and densely populated modern towns and city areas like Agege, Mushin and Ajegunle in Lagos, Ifo, Shagamu, Odogbolu in Ogun, Bayelsa in the South-South region, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano and Nasarawa in the North, especially when the procedures go awry as found in the introductory part, above, of this features article.
It is therefore no surprise that it amounts to a taboo which is seriously, often violently, opposed, to express one’s disinclination to MGM and FGM (especially the latter) across Nigeria, especially in Northern Nigeria, where tradition and religion wax stronger than the rest of the country and continue to play a major role in how the society is cultured.
The stark truth or reality, however, is that genital mutilation has plunged many of its victims in lifelong psychological trauma across all countries and cultures where it still in practice today, including Nigeria.
It is heart-rending to note that parents, in total, joyous complicity with the whole extended family – a child could be circumcised behind the back of a reluctant parent! – more often than not force the practice upon children at a young age when they are incapable of making independent decisions. In any case these children are not even consulted before the procedure. In Nigerian cultures where MGM and FGM are carried out when children approach puberty, the victims are simply herded into it, with ceremonies proudly supervised by adults as rites of passage for the young boys and girls of roughly the same age group. It is a thing of high dishonor to opt out of these initiation to adulthood rites – that is how MGM and FGM is seen by practicing Nigerian ethnic groups – and such teenager and his or her parents, even the entire family, are usually ostracised by the whole community for daring to “oppose our religion, our culture and our tradition”.
According to Doune Porter, UNICEF’s Chief of Communication, Nigeria remains number three among countries with high prevalence rate of genital mutilation in the world. She disclosed that Nigeria comes after Egypt and Ethiopia, with close to 20 million Nigerian girls and women having their genitalia mutilated.
