NAN-ND-1
Commendation
By Benson Ezugwu
Ikom (Cross River), Oct. 1, 2017 (NAN) Some people in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River have commended an NGO, Safe Heaven Development Initiative (SHDI), for sensitising them on the danger of female genital mutilation.
The people gave the commendation in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ikom on Sunday.
They said the organisation through its programmes had made the people of the area to be aware of the danger of female genital mutilation, a practice they said, had been with them for ages.
A veterinary doctor, Isek Thomas, said the sensitisation was worthwhile because it had made the people realise the health and psychological implications on the victims of the practice.
Thomas said that female genital mutilation was against the fundamental rights of the girl child.
“I commend the organisation for this awareness creation. I wish other civil society organizations will emulate Safe Heaven Development Initiative.
“This practice must be stopped. It is very bad. This is one of the worst cultural practices inherited from our forefathers,” he said.
Thomas advised community leaders in the local government, especially those in the traditional institutions, to use their good offices to encourage the people to do away with the practice.
“Female genital mutilation is something we need to avoid and this campaign should go on. We must make sure that we sensitize our people against this obnoxious practice,” he said.
Mr Sunday Okim who hails from Etung Local Government Area lauded the awareness campaign, describing it as a humanitarian service.
“To me, this is service to humanity because this practice has outlived its usefulness.
“This is a tradition handed down to us by our ancestors which has since been discovered to be inhuman.
“I commend this organisation because with this effort, I am sure the practice will soon be a thing of the past,” he stated.
A woman leader in Ikom, Mrs Maria Akpet, said the sensitisation against female genital mutilation was a welcome development.
Akpet tasked religious leaders in the area to join hands with the NGO in carrying out the campaign, adding that the practice was against the female child.
“Even the spiritual law urges us to circumcise the male children amongst us. It did not tell us to do so to the females. So this is purely man’s inhumanity to woman,” she said.
NAN recalls that the NGO, under the Executive Director, Mrs Margaret Onah, had been organising the campaign across the local government areas in the state. (NAN)
BEN/EMO
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Edited bt Ejike Obeta