By; OLADELE ADEDAYO, Ado-Ekiti
Determined to curb the upsurge of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria, a Non Governmental Organisation, Hacey Health Initiative has called for the support of media towards addressing the unlawful practice.
The body which called for the collaboration of media men and houses in the fight against the unethical practice, however, stressed that declaring war against the practice could only be won with the collaborative efforts,adding that it is the duty of every stakeholder in the society to rise against the menace.
HACEY Health Initiative is a development organization focused on improving the health and productivity of vulnerable and underserved population in Africa.
Giving the assertion in Ado-Ekiti,the Ekiti State capital during the Media dialogue with journalists in a programme tagged, “STOP CUT” the state coordinator, Hacey Health Initiative, Oluwanifemi Helen Ayeni said “the media has a significant role to play if we must win this war and eradicate the practice”.
The State Coordinator stated that media are the vast tools that can be used to spread awareness and bring about positive behavioural change through sharing the appropriate contents with the public.
“We organised the media dialogue, bringing together media personnel to feed us on how we could partner better and through the interaction,we got how we can leverage on press release and to focus attention on organisations that have Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) with structures in place that are already carrying out activities.
The Desk Officer, Female Genital Mutilation, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mr. Tolulope Ayotunde Ogunniyi, also called on the generality of the people to take it as a point of responsibility that in their households,no girl or woman is cut.
“Once everybody has this kind of mind, automatically,we will have a FGM-Free State and Nigeria at large”.
Also,the Communication Manager for Hacey Health Initiative, Anne Bassey, said the media personnel have been educated on the practice of the FGM, saying the fight to end it is real. Adding that there are laws and policies that protect women and girls from violence.
She said the media are expected to educate the masses in return.
“We are in a society where nobody needs to keep quiet when things are happening as the law enforcement agencies are there to act if reported.
In the past 14 years, the organization has worked with UNFPA, Path USA, Empower UK, Amplify UK, the Nigerian government and other private sector partners to implement various girl child and women’s rights related projects in the areas of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and sexual violence programs.
HACEY through its StopCut project has collaborated with key stakeholders, including state Ministries of Health in Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo to end the practices of Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C).
The Stop Cut Project is focused on ending Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C) in Ekiti, Osun and Oyo state in Southwest Nigeria by improving policy and law implementation by December 2023.
