Globally, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), popularly known as female circumcision is classified as an unlawful act with Nigeria also having laws that criminalise FGM as part of efforts to curb the practice. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, in this report, highlights how the culture of silence and unwillingness to report FGM cases in Oyo State has made the laws ineffective.
At 74, Alhaja Sururat Oyero, nee Abudu, a National Humanitarian of the Federation of Muslims Women’s Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN) and an educationist who looks younger than her age does not appear like someone who has ever experienced any form of emotional trauma.
She radiates a peaceful aura as she sits at her desk in her office at Barakat Schools, Bodija, Ibadan, where she sees to the educational, spiritual and emotional well-being of hundreds of school children. But a question to her on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), popularly called female circumcision, revealed that on particular subjects, she has some emotions bottled up.
She and three of her daughters, two biological and a ward, are survivors of FGM who like many did not feel the effect of the act till she reached child bearing age. Though she no longer feels the pain, she vividly remembers the stench from her private parts while the wound from the circumcision healed.
“I remember vividly the nauseating odour that emanated from the cloth folded around my waist and tied with a string to hold it in place to protect the circumcision wound. It was folded from the front to the back and when I went to the toilet which is usually an open space already filled with garbage and other peoples’ defecation, I had to remove the piece of cloth and put it somewhere on top of a leaf, then hang it back when I am done,” she recalled, looking morose and lost in thought.
She recalled that each day she and her female siblings and brother who were circumcised on the same day return from school, one of her father’s senior wives would gather them around the water tap called ‘idi ero’, put them on her lap and wash their private parts with black soap, put black oil (adi eyan) on it and then put another clean piece of cloth like they were changing dippers.
Alhaja Oyero did not realise what was done to her until she had pains with serious lacerations while delivering her three children. Two of her three daughters were also circumcised against her will despite an initial agreement with her husband that they would not.
The two circumcised daughters had to deliver through caesarean section, but the uncircumcised one delivered normally. Alhaja Oyero is still unhappy with all those involved in the circumcision, the circumciser and her husband who had earlier said the daughters would not be circumcised, but could not face her uncle to say no.
“It hurts me to the marrow any time I still think about it and I just think that I was lucky that my own was not badly done like those of my daughters,” she said.
Thirty-three-year-old Ismail Morufat had unpleasant experience during childbirth.
“It was gruelling and immediately the baby came, I started bleeding excessively and was getting weak. An hour after, I was still bleeding uncontrollably and the nurses were running around, until they called the doctor who asked my mum whether I was circumcised and she said yes. That was when he gave some instructions and it finally stopped. I almost died, I am just lucky, many are not and this practice should be discouraged,” she recalled.
A 40-year-old patent medicine vendor in Ibarapa area of Oyo State and FGM survivor, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, also narrated her story with lots of bitterness on what she called her “lot in life.”
A look at her business operation shows that she is doing well financially as she was busy and had customers coming in and out during a visit to her store. However, her business is the only thing she seems to be happy about. When asked of her experience as a survivor of FGM, she retorted, “Am I a survivor? I didn’t survive FGM; I just exist.
“FGM wrecked my life, I had to relocate from another community to this place out of shame; I don’t want anyone to recognise me because I left my community in disgrace after being thrown out of my husband’s house as a failure.
“I never had any urge for a man. But at 27, I married as expected as a virgin and that was the beginning. I never enjoyed sex, couldn’t satisfy my husband and there was always a battle in our house for about five years when his family brought a woman home as his new wife. The day the woman delivered, I was chased away through traditional rites and became a laughing stock.
“FGM destroyed my marriage, family ties and made me the butt of jokes. Now at 40, I am childless and not willing to have a relationship. I like that only one person here knows my story because she helped me to move. I still feel ashamed because of what happened in the past. I can’t even talk about it publicly,” she confided in Nigerian Tribune.
FGM is any procedure that involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reason. A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) research in 2016 across 30 countries where data on FGM exists stated that 200 million girls and women have experienced genital mutilation.
In Nigeria, about 20 million women and girls are reported to have been mutilated or cut and many more are still at risk of this harmful cultural practice.
In Oyo State, FGM is still a significant concern especially in rural areas. According to a 2018 National Demographic and Health Survey, Oyo State has a high prevalence of FGM, with
42.9 percent of women aged 15-49 having undergone FGM; 61.3 percent of women in rural areas having undergone FGM, compared to 24.1 percent in urban areas. Indeed, Oyo State is ranked the fifth state with the highest prevalence of FGM in Nigeria.
The National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), the standard used in reporting health indices is the instrument used to gather data on FGM in Oyo State and the last edition produced, which put the prevalence of FGM at 31 percent from 65.5 percent in 2013 was in 2018.
Findings revealed that a new set of data will be available in December when the NDHS for 2023/24 will be released.
Speaking on likely outcomes on the expected new data and what this may portend for FGM in the state, Tolulope Omosalewa Babawarun, an epidemiologist and Senior Programmes Coordinator at the Centre for Comprehensive Promotion of Reproductive Health (CCPRH), formerly known as Centre for Population and Reproductive Health (CPRH), an organisation that had worked extensively on FGM in the state, said that it is not realistic to make projections on such data as there are many factors that come to play, adding that stakeholders are optimistic that there will be a reduction based on efforts of the government and non-governmental bodies.
She emphasised that “there are things that cannot be categorically projected. We expect a further reduction from the 31 percent arc in 2018. But a figure cannot be categorically stated without research and scientific backing.”
According to data from the Stop Cut Project, a three-year project focused on promoting the effective implementation of laws and policies that protect women and girls from female genital mutilation which was sponsored by the United Nations Trust Fund and executed by HACEY Health Initiative to end FGM in Southwest Nigeria, over 51.8 percent of women of child-bearing age in Oyo State have been mutilated while 31.0 percent of girls aged 0-14 have been mutilated. The study used a semi-structured questionnaire and interview guides adapted from the Nigerian NDHS survey and the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM to arrive at its findings.
The study also found that traditional circumcisers, referred to as “Oloolas” are the most common perpetrators of FGM. Theirs is a well-known profession that is primarily passed down from generation to generation. The study in Oyo State also showed that 67.0 percent of FGM was performed by traditional circumcisers and 11.9 percent by healthcare practitioners while traditional birth attendants were identified for being responsible for 19.7 percent.
Over the years, FGM attracted the attention and interest of various groups due to the health implications associated with it including most often, long-term complications affecting women’s physical, mental and sexual health throughout life. At a period, advocates recommended safe practice when the influence of culture made it difficult to get people to accept FGM messages; called medicalisation of FGM.
This was when FGM was practised by any category of health care practitioner, whether in a public or a private clinic at home or elsewhere. But this was counter-productive as people felt it was the person that carried out the exercise that was wrong and not the act itself. Rather than reduce, the system legalised FGM as long as it is carried out by a medical practitioner.
In Oyo State, many organisations have taken up the bold step alongside the government to wage war against FGM. They include Hacey Health Initiative; the Centre for Comprehensive Promotion of Reproductive Health (CCPRH), Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and many religious bodies.
In spite of all efforts by government and other initiatives including foreign backed agencies, between 2018 and 2022, there was only 3.3 percent reduction in the number of reported cases. Indeed, in 2022, the government said that its advocacy had been successful in 13 out of the 33 local government areas in the state and community members now speak against female circumcision, adding that it had given gender sensitive prevention, protection and response services to 310, 260 at risk girls in addition to giving psychosocial support to one million survivors.
Yet, female circumcision is still a concern in about nine local government areas in the state with five LGs identified for its extreme figures: Ibarapa North: 63.6 percent, Ibarapa Central:59.3 percent, Ibarapa East:56.3 percent, Olorunsogo 54.8 percent and Oorelope: 53.8 percent while others like Akinyele, Kajola, Oyo West and Afijio also struggle with the burden of FGM.
Status, challenges of FGM in Oyo State
During a tour of communities in five local government areas of the state as a sample representative of Ibarapa zone, Oyo zone and Ibadan Municipality; Anko and Oke Ola in Ibarapa East local government area, Isale-Oba and Iberekodo in Ibarapa Central, Iseeke titun and Owode in Oyo West, Arulogun and Aroro in Akinyele as well as Bodija market and Ashi in Ibadan North local government our investigation revealed that many are aware that there is a campaign against FGM and the government is strongly against the practice due to the health risks attached.
However, few people are willing to talk about the issue and those that spoke don’t want to be known. Almost all the people that spoke told the reporter that even if they know those perpetrating the act; they are not willing to expose them because it is dangerous to do so as it is an issue that borders on culture.
While many know it is an offence to circumcise female children, some are still engaging in the act secretly and those that know about such incidents are not likely to talk. Also, there is a shield that protects traditional circumcisers in these communities and no one points them out or describes their house for reasons including fear and stigmatization by members of the community.
On the status of FGM in Oyo State, Balikis Oluwakemi Olawoyin, the State Reproductive Health Officer in charge of gender-based violence and eradication of harmful traditional practices in the Oyo State Primary Health Board, confirmed that FGM is a culturally entrenched traditional practice in the state, adding that “at the inception of the present government on May 29, 2019, the rate of FGM in Oyo State was 66.7 percent and two different surveys showed that it first dropped to 33 percent and moved back to 44 percent depending on the location.”
According to Olawoyin, the experience on the field shows that zero percent compliance has not been recorded in the state because people believe it is a traditional practice that must continue. It also has to do with the female reproductive organ and people believe it can’t be talked about openly.
“It is also complex because all the consequences of FGM have to be explained and explained just to convince people; this is because the consequences are not usually immediate, it comes much later so people do not believe it is the cause of such problems. But we thank God that the different type of educative, informative and communication materials we used including power point projection showing pictures to people have made a difference and they are able to believe what we are saying. It has helped us move from one community to the other and meet community leaders face to face. That is why we are not yet where want to be but we have achieved our aim.”
Olawoyin’s assertion that due to the fact that all the consequences of FGM are not usually immediate making people not believe it is the cause of such problems was proved right by 35- year-old Arowosaye Aminat Abiodun, who said, “I do not know if I was circumcised and I have not experienced any difficulty.”
“In fact, I did not know anything was wrong until we were told. My daughter was circumcised as a baby and she is 12 years old now; nothing is wrong with her and she has never been sick. Until they started saying otherwise, I didn’t think anything was wrong or there are dangers associated with it but now we know better.”
A petty trader in a community in Oyo West Local Government said “I don’t know what the noise is about; I was circumcised and my three daughters were also circumcised, nothing happened to me and nothing has happened to them till now, they are growing. I don’t think there are dangers except the circumciser does not know the job well. I have heard of cases of over bleeding leading to death, affecting fertility or the vagina closed but all these are just from mistakes. If it was done well, it won’t happen. But we have been told it is dangerous and we will stop, though many will still do it secretly.”
An advocate, Hairat Ogungbenro, the executive coordinator of Hairat Ogungbenro Children Protection Initiative, chairperson of Oyo State Children Protection Network Committee and executive of the Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN) also confirmed that FGM exists in the state based on her personal experience while collecting data in Ibadan North Local Government for her organisation.
“I realised that there are some men who still insist that their female children should be circumcised. I tried persuading them but I encountered resistance from some fathers regarding the need to stop FGM. I met a man who has multiple wives and children that has strong beliefs about the necessity of FGM; he said any of his wives who try to stop him would be in trouble. The main reason for engaging in FGM is the belief that it will keep their daughters from flirting and being promiscuous but this is causing more harm than good,” she said.
As part of efforts to curb FGM, the wife of the Oyo State Governor, Tamunominini Makinde, has been holding sensitisation programmes where she canvasses for the collective effort of stakeholders and community leaders toward ending FGM.
At one of such programmes was held in February to celebrate the 2024 International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, she said FGM has adverse health and negative interpersonal consequences, belittles women and girls, and urged all stakeholders, including community leaders, religious leaders and policymakers to create constructive policies that will promote positive change and fairness.
“Women and girls do not need to go through complications, severe pains, excessive bleeding, genital tissue swelling, fever and others that are associated with FGM, nor do they need depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder or low self extreme as a result of FGM, let us say no to FGM.
“In Oyo State, we need a complete woman as a mother and wife, not a broken depressed woman, stakeholders and community leaders should encourage our people to speak up against FGM and change the harmful norms of FGM, let’s advocate for the well being of our women and girls, so, we can pave way for healthier women and save our childbirth,” she added.
During the programme, the chairman of the Oyo State Traditional Circumcisers, Mr Abobade Muftau said that the association has decided to stop the circumcision of females in the state, commending the state government for the advocacy and enlightenment on the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation.
Despite the promise, many still engage in FGM secretly, leading to the enactment and domestication of laws to serve as deterrent.
Getting identified traditional circumcisers to speak on the issue proved abortive; efforts to reach Mr Muftau were unsuccessful as the number given as his personal line remained unreachable for weeks. There is no known official office for the association and efforts to speak to individual traditional circumcisers also failed as those identified refused to grant interviews on the issue.
A field officer in the Oyo State Ministry of Culture and Tourism (name withheld because she doesn’t have permission to grant interviews), who Nigerian Tribune asked for help after making series of efforts, stated that “they (circumscisers) refused to grant interviews because of a circumcision that caused problem in the state sometimes back. They know that female circumcision is an offence, they don’t want to talk about it; even at Oritamerin, which is their base in Ibadan, there is an attitude of silence that seems quite difficult to penetrate.”
Laws against FGM
FGM is globally accepted to be a violation of the human rights of women and girls. It is also categorised as a major form of gender-based violence. VAPP Act (2015) provides punishment for perpetrators of FGM.
This particular Act specifically mentioned FGM as a criminal act. It also made FGM and other forms of Gender based violence like rape, spousal battery, forceful ejection from home, harmful widowhood practices etc punishable offences in Nigeria. Apart from this, the VAPP Act also made provisions for the maximum protection of victims and also for the effective remedies for victims.
Section 6 of the VAPP Act provides for a set of punishments for FGM. Some of these punishments include; “Anybody who performs or engages another to perform FGM on any persons is liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years or to a fine not exceeding N200,000 or both and anybody who attempts, aids, abets or incite another to carry out FGM is liable to a prison term not exceeding two years’ or charged to a fine not exceeding 100,000 or to both. Other states in South West Nigeria also have state laws that criminalise and punish FGM.
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is the supreme law of the land provides in Section 34 that “no person shall be subjected to any form of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” FGM is an act that is torturous and inhuman and can be handled under this section.
The Child Rights Act: The Child Rights Act (CRA) passed in 2003 in Nigeria also has some provisions that outlaw this practice. Section 11(B) of this Act provides also that “no child shall be subjected to any form of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. Oyo State is one of the states that has domesticated this law.
Although Mrs Dupe Awosemusi, Director of the Mediation Centre in the Oyo State Ministry of Justice and former Coordinator of the Oyo State Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response Team (Oyo SGBVRT) said the two laws are being enforced in the State and some people have been charged with FGM at the Family Court in the past, there has been no prosecution under the Act known to be concluded and anyone penalised in spite of the huge amount spent and efforts of collaborating bodies.
FGM cases like other cases involving minors’; children less than 18 years are handled by family court in Oyo State and cases in the family court are not exposed to the public in order to protect children.
Findings from the data of the Ministry of Justice, Oyo State Primary Health Board Centre for Comprehensive Promotion of Reproductive Health (CCPRH) and Hacey Health Initiative, records only one FGM case filed before the court. Investigations revealed that this case involves a two years old girl that was circumcised by her paternal grandmother without the mother’s consent.
The grandmother came to Oyo State from Lagos to do the circumcision; the case is currently a two – year-old matter and it has stalled because the major witness who is the child’s mother has stopped appearing in court. According to reports by agencies involved, the mother lost interest because the husband threatened to withdraw support to her and the child if the case continues.
Across Nigeria, almost all the states of the federation has particular laws for protection of the girl child but none has been able to record known pronouncements on FGM according to findings. In a report prepared by Trust Law, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono legal programme for HACEY Health Initiative to compare FGM Laws in the states of Ekiti, Osun and Oyo in Nigeria with that of other parts of Nigeria, particularly that of Lagos State and Abuja, being the major commercial cities in Nigeria with the aim of identifying the gaps in the Nigerian FGM/C Laws, confirmed that “we are not aware of any cases where the courts pronounced on the legality or otherwise of FGM/C in Oyo state.”
It added that “despite these provisions of the VAWL, Oyo State is among the states in the South-West of Nigeria with high rates of FGM/C. This may be as a result of failure to provide for mandatory reporting of instances of FGM/C by medical staff in hospitals and health centres, lack of proper enforcement of the applicable laws, as well as insufficient grassroots education and enlightenment on the subject of FGM/C.
Why law isn’t effective
Lack of reported cases due to reluctance to speak up on the matter and inability to completely prosecute few reported cases are among major hindrances noted by respondents interviewed.
Olawoyin explained that if no one reports any case and there is no witness when it happened, no one can be prosecuted.
“The state has made it open that it is a crime that should not be committed and there are laws. We have a rapid response team on ground but the existing laws have not been implemented because of a conspiracy of silence. FGM is a practice done behind closed doors and only the close relatives will be aware. Even if we make law to prosecute those involved, nobody will want to report the issue.”
She cited the case of a two year old girl brought by her mother to the health center who had severe urinary tract infection and a foul discharge. Health workers got to know the child was mutilated when the mother was questioned but when asked to describe the circumciser she refused and wept saying she would be stigmatized and discriminated against if she mention names.
“Conspiracy of silence is a big challenge that we face. if someone is mutilating a girl in a room next to you and you are not there, they will lie that the baby is just crying for food and those that are aware that such practices is being done are quiet because they are scared of talking because of stigmatization,” she said.
Alhaja Ogungbenro also noted that when a perpetrator is arrested and charged to court, evidence will be needed but parents would step back saying they don’t want anything to do with the case and the eyewitness won’t be able to come forward because they won’t want to testify against their family.
“If there’s a way of breaking this culture of silence and make somebody a scapegoat, this whole act will reduce but no one is ready to be a witness and even if you apprehend, they will just spend 24 hours in the cell. I have said it several times when we have meetings with the security people that anybody that is not ready to bear witness should be punished alongside the perpetrator, they should face the same penalties and the law must be reviewed to add this. Until there is a scapegoat, they won’t believe there is a penalty for their actions,” she said
Awosemusi on her part highlighted factors militating against effective implementation as multifaceted, listing cultural influence, lack of political will, lack of awareness of the existence of the law, interference from the high and mighty as well as stigmatisation and family pressures.
“Some people were actually charged but the case was eventually struck out. I think the case could not be concluded due to the absence of the child’s mother, who was incidentally the key witness in the case. She was always coming from Ogun State anytime the case was coming up and I think she was pressured to succumb to withdrawal. Her mother‐in-law, her grandmother-in-law and one other person were charged to court, the pressure was much,” she said.
Speaking further on the matter, she said, “a little girl was circumcised and the wound got infected and was bringing out pus. The mother came for help and the girl was treated but she refused to mention the name of the circumciser and when the mother was to be charged, she refused to bear witness, stating that her mother was her benefactor and she cannot send her to prison.”
Contrary to the claim that circumcision is an Islamic practice, Alhaja Oyero stated that her research shows that the holy prophet Muhammad (SAW) did not circumcise any of his daughters and none of his ‘Sahabas’ (the followers of the prophet), circumcised their daughters.
“I think what makes it linger is that it has been tied to religion and culture. The government is not serious with its laws, how many people have been sanctioned by these laws, we only have this law in place and they are not implemented. Let’s see to the implementation of these laws and see if people won’t run. Whose father wants to become a prisoner just because of protecting a moribund culture? I think one of the things that government needs to do is to catch people and implement the law on them. Let them pay fines, let them go to jail and let the story go viral, then people will begin to stop,” she said.
The former chairperson of NAWOJ in Oyo State, Comrade Jadesola Ajibola who during her tenure had many projects on eradication of FGM said she discovered that there is no willingness to report FGM because any one that reports is stigmatized by the whole community and treated like an outcast.
In spite of the existence of laws in the state, she said few women were willing to report FGM in their home or community to the appropriate authorities. A research indicates that more than 32.8 percent of women are unwilling to report a case and 47.0 percent were willing to report via dedicated lines as long as they won’t be required to show up; they want anonymity to protect themselves from attack and stigmatization in the community.
“Also, except it is an issue of life and death, they don’t take circumcised girl for treatment in clinics, they mange them at home. We learnt that even when they come to hospitals, they will refuse to mention who the circumciser is. Usually, they say their mothers or mother-in-law took the baby for the circumcision and they don’t want to prosecute their family. Low willingness to report is due to fear of retribution from community and family as well as attacks in extreme cases,” she said.
A gender officer in the Nigerian Police that participated at a Hacey Health Initiative programme for stakeholders said no case has been reported and it’s difficult to know what is going on in the communities.
“It is when they report to the police that we know. It is when they inform us that we can take action. We cannot be going from one house to the other to search for those who are being raped or defiled; likewise, this circumcision issue.”
To break the culture of silence over FGM, a retired civil servant, Mrs Dorcas Ojo said people willing to report cases should be protected from the backlash from community and family members after reporting.
“When the laws are made to work and perpetrators get punished, people will stop the blatant disregard for the existence of the laws,” she said.
- This report was facilitated by the Africa Centre for Development Journalism (ACDJ) as part of its 2024 Inequalities Reporting Fellowship supported by the MacArthur Foundation through the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
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