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By Dayo Emmanuel
Stakeholders have renewed calls for the total eradication of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), describing the practice as a grave violation of human rights and a crime against women and girls that must no longer be tolerated under any cultural or religious pretext.
The call was made in Lagos on Thursday, 6th February, during an event organised by the Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE) to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed annually to raise awareness and mobilise men against the harmful traditional practice.
Speaking at the event, designed strictly for men, the Executive Director of CEE-HOPE, Betty Abah, highlighted the severe physical, psychological and social dangers associated with FGM, stressing that the practice has no medical, scientific or moral justification.
Abah explained that FGM remains deeply entrenched in cultural beliefs across several parts of Nigeria and other African countries, where it is often defended as a rite of passage, a means of controlling female sexuality or a supposed aid to childbirth.
“In some communities, if a girl is not circumcised as a child, they insist it must be done during pregnancy because of the belief that it will make childbirth easier,” she said. “There is no research, no medical evidence anywhere in the world that supports this claim.”
She noted that many families continue to perpetuate the practice simply because it is what they inherited, without questioning its consequences or recognising the lifelong damage it causes.
According to Abah, FGM is typically carried out by untrained individuals using crude instruments without pain management or hygienic conditions, exposing girls to excessive bleeding, severe infections and, in some cases, death.
She recounted a harrowing account of a young girl who bled to death during a circumcision procedure after her blood circulation was severely affected.
“She was screaming in pain, and suddenly the screaming stopped,” Abah said. “That silence meant she had died from excessive bleeding. These are not theories; these are lived realities.”
Beyond immediate physical harm, Abah stressed that FGM causes long-term complications such as chronic pain, repeated infections, sexual dysfunction, complications during childbirth and deep psychological trauma that often lasts a lifetime.
She described the practice as a form of violence deliberately inflicted on girls because of their gender, reflecting deep-rooted inequality in how societies value male and female bodies.
“In many cultures, boys are circumcised with the belief that it enhances their sexual experience, while girls are mutilated to suppress theirs,” she said. “Is that equality?”
Abah further explained that some forms of FGM practiced in parts of sub-Saharan Africa involve extreme procedures that narrow or seal the vaginal opening, leaving women with lifelong health challenges and exposing them to serious risks during childbirth.
While acknowledging that awareness campaigns and legal interventions have reduced the prevalence of FGM in parts of southern Nigeria, she warned that the practice has not ended and continues in secrecy in many communities.
“FGM may no longer be as visible in some places, but it has not disappeared,” she said. “Silence and secrecy are now its biggest weapons.”
She urged parents, traditional rulers and community influencers to abandon cultural practices that endanger the lives of girls, stressing that culture must evolve in line with knowledge, compassion and respect for human dignity.
Abah also called on government agencies to strengthen enforcement of existing laws banning FGM and to invest in grassroots education programmes that challenge the myths sustaining the practice.
“FGM is not ordained by God, culture or nature,” she said. “If God did not want a girl to be born with her body intact, she would not have been born that way.”
Also speaking at the event, Pastor Patrick Olusegun Tinka described Female Genital Mutilation as one of the most damaging harmful traditional practices still affecting women and girls, noting that it falls squarely within gender-based violence.
“Female genital mutilation is violence against humanity,” Tinka said. “It violates a woman’s dignity, her body and her right to live free from fear and pain.”
He emphasised that no tradition, religion or belief system should be used to justify the abuse of women’s bodies, urging societies to critically review long-held customs that no longer align with human rights values.
“The world is evolving, and cultures must evolve too,” he said. “Just because something has existed for generations does not mean it is right.”
Tinka called on religious leaders, parents and community elders to use their influence to speak out against FGM and protect girls from the practice, noting that silence enables its continuation.
A survivor, Bridget Simon, also shared her personal experience at the event. A mother of three, Simon recounted being circumcised at the age of 12 in her native Ebonyi State community. She said her younger sister later underwent the same procedure and bled to death.
“I am alive, but my sister did not survive it,” she said, thanking CEE-HOPE for amplifying voices against the practice and helping communities understand its dangers.
The Chief Imam of the Ajegunle community mosque, Abdulyekini Abdulsalam, stated that Islam opposes gender-based violence, including female circumcision. He noted that while Prophet Abraham circumcised his son, the practice was not extended to daughters, countering claims that FGM has religious backing.
The disability community was also represented at the event, with disability advocate Adewale Adeyanju highlighting the heightened vulnerability of persons living with disabilities to FGM and other harmful practices.
“We need information and protection,” Adeyanju said. “Many people living with disabilities are poor, not empowered and have no way to resist practices that endanger their lives.”
Participants at the event reiterated that ending FGM requires sustained advocacy, education and community engagement, particularly involving men, traditional leaders and religious authorities who often shape cultural norms..
A participant, Rev. Israel Ajayi earlier mentioned the issue of tribal marks. “I am from Iseyin in Oyo State, where inscribing tribal marks on natives is prominent.
The clergy man who has visible tribal marks said, “The marks on my face was put there while I was a child. So when we talk of FGM, I want CEE-HOPE to include tribal marks prohibition in their campaign because it’s a form of mutilation and I think it’s worse than FGM.”
