BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Medical practitioners in Nigeria have been warned against the illegal practice of Female Genital Mutilation.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria have warned their members against medicalization of Female Genital Mutilation.
They declared that the deadly act has become illegal for medical doctors, nurses and midwives in the country, warning that anyone who compromises the ethical standard would face wrath of the law.
This was made known during advocacy visits by the Global Youth Consortium against Female Genital Mutilation, a movement that drives advocacy in various parts of Nigeria and globally to end FGM by 2030.
A team, led by Nigeria Country Representative, Augustine Onwe and the Consortium’s Global Executive Secretary, Costly Aderibigbe, during an advocacy visit to NMCN in Abuja and discussed ways in which the council could support the fight against FGM in the country.
Ms. Doris Ikechukwu, deputy secretary resource mobilisation and partnership, and Zack Onwe also attended the meeting as members of the GYC Nigerian team.
Speaking, the Registrar of NMCN, Faruk Umar Abubakar, assured the team that they would ensure that no member of the Council engages in the act because it is against their ethics, stressing that if any is found wanting, they would be brought before the law.
Abubakar mentioned that the revised nursing curriculum supported by the United Nations Population Funds has now included Female Genital Mutilation and its consequences as one of the core topics to be learnt by nursing and midwifery students.
He urged the GYC Nigeria to file a report in any instance where a nurse or midwife is found to be performing female genital mutilation.
Similarly, at another advocacy roundtable on eliminating the medicalization of FGM by the GYC with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria at its headquarter in Abuja, the Council’s Registrar, Tajudeen Sanusi, assured that MCDN is committed to the fight against FGM in the country.
Sanusi noted that the Council has included FGM as a professional misconduct in their new ethical code of conduct in which the United Nations Population Funds In Nigeria supported its review.
He advised that any medical doctor who is discovered engaging in FGM should be reported to the council’s investigative panel for necessary sanctions.
The registrar tasked GYC members to step up their efforts in rural areas, particularly in designated hotspots and offer guidelines for reporting cases of misconduct to the panel.
As part of the advocacy requests put out by the team, he vowed to make it possible for GYC members to speak with new medical doctors during the Induction ceremonies.
GYC is a youth movement with representation in more than 55 countries and a membership of over 1200 young people with the sole vision of achieving a world free of female genital mutilation by 2030.
The consortium structure works closely with UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Program on the Elimination of FGM to ensure that young people are meaningfully engaged in advocacy against FGM.
Through advocacy, partnership and lobbying the consortium is disrupting social norms and creating safe spaces for women and girls.
GYC was formed following the Dakar declaration, where young people from across the globe met in Senegal between 3rd and 5th of November 2021 and agreed to be the largest global youth movement working to end Female Genital Mutilation.
The consortium was launched officially on the 8th of February at a high-level event supported by UNFPA Geneva, New York and WACARO offices, where the joint program donors (Italy, Ireland, Canada , USA, European Union, Sweden, Norway, Austria) directly engaged in conversations with young people during a panel discussion.
