Ekiti: 180 female circumcision workers drop tools, receive N45m

Erelu Bisi Fayemi, the First Lady of Ekiti State, has urged the group of 180 practitioners of female circumcision in Ekiti State, who publicly abandoned the practice for more lucrative ventures, not to revert to it.

The governor’s wife urged the former practitioners of female circumcision to become advocates against the practice, describing it as violence against the female gender and emphasizing the inherent dangers of female genital mutilation.

All Nigeria Latest News reports that Erelu Fayemi addressed the audience in Ado Ekiti during a ‘Drop the blade initiative,’ a sensitization and awareness program highlighting the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). During the event, the 180 practitioners publicly surrendered their circumcision tools. As a part of the initiative, they were each empowered with N250,000 under the State Micro Finance and Enterprise Development scheme to support the establishment of their businesses.

She said, “This is the second time government would empower former female circumcision practitioners in the state as part of efforts to discourage the dastardly act.

“We are empowering these women today to take them away from the illegal business. If what they were gaining from female circumcision was why they could not let go of the job, we are ready to empower them.”

The First Lady reiterated the state government’s zero tolerance for gender-based violence and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She emphasized that the government would take strict measures against those who continued to engage in the practice, recognizing it as violence against girls.

She said a minimum N250,000 grant given to each of the former practitioners was a start-up capital for them to begin a profitable business venture that would not be harmful to the society.

Maryam Ogunlade, Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development called for stakeholders’ involvement in stamping out FGM in all communities across the state, saying since female circumcision had been banned by law.