A Non-Governmental Organisation, Friends for Women and Children, has raised alarm over the continued practice of women circumcision in many parts of Cross River State, especially, Ugep in Yakurr Local Government Area.
Secretary of the organisation, Mrs Anthonia Eniang, while speaking to newsmen yesterday, said at a time Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is becoming unfashionable in Nigeria, owing to the intensive campaign against the repulsive practice, Ugep and its surrounding communities still embrace the backward culture.
The Secretary, who disclosed that their organisation was on sensitisation programme in the area, on the dangers and negative implications of the practice on the female child explained that many women had undergone one sort of trauma or another as a result of being put through the experience of FGM.
According to her, female genital mutilation, which the people see as part of their culture is capable of denying a woman a fulfilled marital life.
“In most cases, women, who underwent genital mutilation see themselves being turned into a nymphomaniac or becoming frigid, thereby experiencing scarred sexual life, even in marriage.
“It is also an easy way of contracting serious infections which can lead to death, as a result of the crude manner and poor sanitary condition of the environment where the process is usually carried out”’ she said.
Mrs Eniang further lamented that the practice often leads to the death of many women due to over bleeding. She urged the traditional authorities, governmental agencies and advocacy groups to rise up against the archaic practice and save the girl – child of the area from the harrowing experiences associated with FGM.
“FGM belongs to the past, in fact, the practice belongs to the dark ages and it has been proven that women are better off, more productive and emotionally stable with her genitals intact as provided by nature”, she added.
The Secretary expressed regret that the practice has become a sore thumb in the area as regards marriage and inter-marriage between young men from the area and women from other cultures.
She recalled the story of one young man, an heir to the throne of one of the five communities in Ugep who has been forced out of the community because his wife, who hails from Delta State, was being pressured for circumcision, even as an adult.
According to her, the woman, who has had miscarriages thrice was told to undergo circumcision by the people, apparently, linking her misfortune to not being circumcised as their culture demands. Now, the Prince and his wife are on the run, obviously for fear of their safety.
She further frowned at other negative practices against women, like one Mrs Nkoyo, who lost her two children and husband and was made to sleep with the husband’s corpse for days. She was also forced to drink the water washed out from the body to prove her innocence.
In addition, she noted that Akpat Central and Adim communities are equally guilty of these negative cultural practices women undergo in their passage to womanhood, which have seen many of them plagued by different diseases.
Mrs Eniang called on the Police and traditional authorities within the area to help preserve the right and health of the girl-child.

Gabriel Nwanetanya