Experts warn against cutting of female clit0ris, non-circumcision of male child

A medical expert, Dr. Lauretta Orji, yesterday said that males who are not circumcised have 10 to 15 times recurrence cases of urinary tract infection, prone to Human Immuno Virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Orji spoke during a one-day Grassroots Civic Education Seminar with the theme, “Ending Female Genital Mutilation, FGM, in this generation which held in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

According to her, while it was proper to circumcise the male, which is recognized by medical practice, the female circumcision constitutes the infringement of the woman’s sexual rights and form of violence against her.

She said that, “A particular belief in Uganda holds that the female clitoris is the remnant of the male’s Pinal shaft which should, therefore, be removed mostly with the use of crude and unhealthy methods.

The expert noted that the perpetrators of FGM should realize that God created the female clitoris for sexual satisfaction and its cutting would not stop a promiscuous woman from being wayward.

“The perpetrators should be mindful of a woman’s sexual well-being during marriage as the practice is a form of gender inequality in a male-dominated world.

Also speaking at the event, a lead consultant with Save Visions Africa, the seminar’s organizers, Dr Peter Okereke warned that continued practice of FGM in Nigeria, violates the Child Right Act passed into law in 2011.

“The bill banning FGM was signed into law on May 29, 2015as the overall prevalence of FGM among girls and women aged 15-49 years in Nigeria is 27 per cent.”

According to Dr. Okereke, statistics show that 16 per cent of infant girl-children were cut under age of one, 82 per cent cut before the age of five years and girls of 0-14 of age are higher among those whose mothers have been circumcised.

“Traditionally, 87 per cent of girls of age 0-14 and 80 per cent of women age of 15-49 were cut by a local circumciser or traditional birth attendance, TBAs.”