P.M. News (Lagos)
Stephen Oladipupo
19 June 2003
Lagos — A social crusader, Mrs Olowe Jo has appealed to the newly inaugurated National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, pass into law, a bill to outlaw female circumcision in the country.
The social crusader commended the executive for sending the bill to the National Assembly, to abolish what she described as one of the numerous acts of violence inflicted on women and children in the society.
She explained that all procedures which involved partial or total removal of the external female genital organ should be abolished adding that since May 1999 she has been at the forefront of the crusade to eradicate female circumcision in the country.
Referring to a UNICEF report which outlined the dangers in female circumcision, Mrs. Olowe Jo said the practise symbolises the subjugation of women and control of female sexuality.
She lamented that the practise could be an important mode through which H.I.V. could be transmitted and spread to innocent persons apart from several other health hazards associated with it.
Mrs. Jo, a pregnant mother of two children appealed to the National Assembly to consider the importance of the bill to the generality of Nigerians, pointing out that an opinion poll conducted on the matter revealed that majority of Nigerians have rejected the age long traditional practise.
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