Bill outlawing Female Genital Mutilation Practice in Nigeria (2)
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My mother (age 81) tells me that the reason female 'circumcision' was
performed was to protect the child from having its head touch the
clitoris as such an accident would result in still-birth. In yet a
nearby tribe, the erogenous characteristics of the clitoris is ac-
knowledged, and its decapitation is intended to keep girls from be-
coming 'wayward'. It is clear that each of these communities have
clear reasons why they had this practice.
We activists who are against this practice would be indebted to Nowa
Omoigui, MD, MPH, FACC, if he can "come out with prospective
RANDOMIZED data coupled to a logistic regression analysis of multiple
potential factors that proves" that the reasons adduced by these and
other communities are valid.
If as he says "Our children do not speak our language, do not wear
our clothes, do not practice our religion, and our ancient customs
are under assault", surely this is an admission of parental failure
in transmitting the basic component of culture, your language, to
your children. We know that many 'educated' Nigerians believe that
their mother tongues are inferior to English and you will never hear
them speak their languages to their children. The Hausas will tell
you that 'duk wanda ya bar gida, gida ma za ya bar shi' (if you aban-
don your culture, the culture also abandons you) - this is the unfor-
tunate plight of Nigerian elites both at home and the Diaspora.
There are no static cultures, it is up to us to allow our cultures to
evolve in such a way that its essence that gives us our distinct
identities are preserved while those vestiges of dubious values are
allowed to proceed into extinction.
J Dada PhD RN
Fantsuam Foundation
Kafanchan, Nigeria
mailto:fantsuam@fantsuam.com
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