The wife of the Osun State Governor, Mrs. Kafayat Oyetola, has said the state is working towards the total eradication of Female Genital Mutilation by 2023. Mrs. Oyetola spoke in her office while receiving the management of HACEY Health Initiative, who paid her an advocacy visit.
Oyetola, who highlighted the harmful effects of the practice on girl-child, said the prevalence rate of FGM was on the decline in the state. “The state is doing well in the area of advocacy against FGM, but we won’t rest; I have been going round to talk about it. Five communities in Irepodun promised not to engage in FGM again recently. Before 2023, the state must have gone far in eradicating this practice,” Oyetola said.
The Executive Director, HACEY Health Initiative, Rhoda Robinson, said the group conducted research in six Local Government Areas of Osun and discovered that FGM was on the decline. Robinson said the advent of COVID-19 in the country affected the progress made in advocacy against FGM in Osun last year.
She said, “More than 60 per cent of the victims of FGM in the area of our research are children under five years. The Stop project is another initiative of our group meant to stop FGM. We want the First Lady to join the campaign against FGM.”