Lagos — The enduring traditional practice of female genitalmutilation (FGM) also called female circumcision, hasreceived a significant thumbs-down from Nigerians. Inrecognition of the first International Day against Female Genital Mutilation and other Harmful Traditional Practices organised by the Inter-Africa committee and the United Nations, a non-profit media organisation, Communicating for Change, has released encouraging results of an opinion survey conducted in 2002, in which Nigerians called for an end to this harmful traditional practice.

According to related evaluative research conducted on viewers in Benin, Akure, Lagos and Abuja who watched a documentary film, Uncut! Playing With Life!, which revealed the reasons for FGM, findings showed that 88 per cent of the audience said they did not support FGM, with only 7 per cent supporting the practice. An overwhelming majority (93 per cent) of respondents asserted that the practice should be discouraged in Nigeria. The stud revealed that 86 per cent of respondents were aware of female genital mutilation before watching the film and 79 per cent identified "tradition" as the major reason why female circumcisions are carried out.

Respondents were reacting to the documentary, produced by Communicating for Change, which presented female genital mutilation in Nigeria through the life of Stella Omoregie, a circumciser from the royal family of Benin, and theatre for development activists, who studied her life and profession as research material for a play against FGM.

The film was shot in a traditional setting in which advocates and activists expressed their personal views. The film showcased the societal pressures responsible for the practice of FGM and also shed light on the socio-economic problems circumcisers face when they give up their professions.

The documentary showed how, over a six-year period, the people of Edo State began to change their beliefs, eventually succeeding in pushing through anti-FGM legislation in 1999 - the first state of the Federation to do so.

Communicating for Change, working in partnership with the Country Women's Association of Nigeria based in Akure, the Women's Health and Action Research Centre based in Benin, the Performance Studio Workshop based in Lagos and the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, organised discussions after the film in which traditional practitioners, health experts, policy makers, victims, the media and FGM activists defended their differing views about the practice.

The key groups represented in the sample were 26 per cent students, 14 per cent civil servants, 11 per cent media, 5 per cent educators, 8 per cent entrepreneurs, and seven per cent medical practitioners. Most major ethnic groups, especially in the southern part of the country, were represented, with 37 per cent being Yoruba, 21 per cent, Edo/Itsekiri, 14 per cent, Igbo and three per cent, Hausa/Fulani. Between all groups, more than a third of female respondents affirmed that they were circumcised.

Yet sixty-three percent of respondents declared that the film prompted them to think differently about FGM resulting in 93 per cent of respondents saying that the practice should be discouraged in Nigeria.

"I think these research results are important indicators of Nigerian attitudes towards female genital mutilation," commented Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, CFC's executive director.

"So far a number of states have passed anti-FGM legislation but we need to see a national anti-FGM law passed which should be backed up by massive awareness, re-training of traditional circumcisers and proper law enforcement," she stressed.

The recent effort by the organisation, brings an important dimension to the fight against this hazardous traditonal practice. More so, because the secrecy surrounding FGM, and the protection of those who carry it out, make collecting data about complications resulting from mutilation difficult. When problems do occur these are rarely attributed to the person who performed the mutilation.

They are more likely to be blamed on the girl's alleged "promiscuity" or the fact that sacrifices or rituals were not carried out properly by the parents.

Most information is collected retrospectively, often a long time after the event. This means that one has to rely on the accuracy of the woman's memory, her own assessment of the severity of any resulting complications, and her perception of whether any health problems were associated with mutilation.

Some data on the short and long-term medical effects of FGM, including those associated with pregnancy, have been collected in hospital or clinic-based studies, and this has been useful in acquiring a knowledge of the range of health problems that can result. However, the incidence of these problems, and of deaths as a result of mutilation, cannot be reliably estimated. Supporters of the practice claim that major complications and problems are rare, while opponents of the practice claim that they are frequent.

FGM is a common problem in approximately 28 countries in Africa. In about 85 per cent of these countries, genital mutilation takes the form of clitoridectomy, where all or part of the clitoris are removed, or excised, where all or part of the labia minora is cut. About 15% of the cases of genital mutilation in Africa are of the most extreme form called infibulation, which is when clitoridectomy and excision are done.

According to a national survey carried out by Research and Marketing Services (RMS) about 40 per cent of Nigeria's female population are mutilated with the most commonforms being clitoridectomy, excision and in the North-West, some infibulation. The most common reasons given for female genital mutilation is that it is an important rite of passage for girls in to womanhood and that it prevents women from prosmiscuity.

The effects of FGM are very grave, from extreme pain, haemorrahage to damage to organs surrounding the clitoris and labia.

In 1984, the Nigerian arm of the Inter-Africa Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the health (AIC), was set up. The AIC has had support from the Ministries of Health, Education and Information in Nigeria, while they focus their efforts on training, information campaigns and advocacy.

In 1994, the United Nations evolved a plan of action, encouraging governments to take measures to bring the practice to a stop, and called FGM a human rights violation and an "expression of societal gender subordination of women."