THE House of Representatives has initiated the process of making Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) a crime by proposing a five-year prison sentence for offenders.
Yesterday a bill to that effect passed its second reading in the lower chamber.
The bill presented by Rep. Ganiyu Johnson is intended to amend the Violence Against Persons (VAP) Prohibition Act, 2015 and to strengthen the punishment for the crime of female genital mutilation.
According to the proposed legislation, anyone who engages in female genital mutilation or performs such acts themselves would be subject to a five-year prison sentence or a fine of no more than N1 million.
Ganiyu while leading the debate on general principles of the Bill said the amendment proposed to section 6(2) of the Act is as follows: “6 (2) Any person who performs female circumcision or genital mutilation or engages another to carry out such circumcision or mutilation commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or pay a fine not exceeding one million naira or both”.
The lawmaker stated that an amendment of the said section 6 will go a long way in deterring persons from engaging in the unwholesome practice of female genital mutilation.
According to him, a UNICEF survey recently revealed that in Nigeria, one out of four girls and one out of ten boys suffer from sexual molestation and about one out of ten children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.
He said among factors that encourage the commission of such unwholesome practices like female genital mutilation is the lack of adequate sanctions.
“Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, excision or genital cutting, comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injuries to the genital organs for non-medical reasons, mostly carried out between infancy and age 15.
“The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women. Because it is usually performed without permission and often against will, it violates girls’ right to make important decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. Reports show that, 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone a form of genital mutilation”, he said.
