Female genital mutilation: S-West first ladies converge on Ekiti

Wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Mrs Feyisetan Fayose will today in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital host critical stakeholders, including  three other first ladies from the South West, to strategize on how to eliminate female genital mutilation in the region.


The three other first ladies being expected  are  Florence Ajimobi, Oyo,  Sherifat Aregbesola, Osun and  Olukemi Mimiko from Ondo. According to a statement signed in Ado Ekiti yesterday by Mr Gbenga Ariyibi, Special Assistant (Media) to the wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Mrs Fayose is collaborating with the United Nations Population Fund, UNPF, to organize the programme.

Ekiti State is second on the prevalence scale for  female genital mutilation, even though there is a general consensus that the age long practice is harmful and need to be abandoned but Mrs Fayose believes it remains a major practice  with the practitioners hiding under religious and cultural myths on the benefit of the practice.

Ekiti has a prevalence of 71.2 percent.

According to Mrs Fayose; ‘’This age long practice is unacceptable and it should be discouraged, hence the need to advocate for its total elimination in the state. ’’It is revealed from the available data from UNFPA-UNICEF that Nigeria has the highest number of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation after Egypt and Ethiopia.”

Also expected at tomorrows meeting were  the state governor, Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose, traditional rulers, federal and state legislators, the judiciary, religious leaders, traditional birth attendants and other critical stakeholders.