From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:NIGERIA: FEMALE CIRCUMCISION PERSISTS DESPITE CLAMP-DOWN
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 07:37:11 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Africa, southern
Title: NIGERIA: FEMALE CIRCUMCISION PERSISTS DESPITE CLAMP-DOWN


an inter press service feature

by remi oyo

ibadan, nigeria, dec 4 (ips) -- the tools for the operation are
simple and cheap. big snail shells and razor blades soaked in a
black concoction in an earthen ware pot.

the recipe is a trade secret but the surgeon, simply known as
baba adija (meaning adija's father), assures that it is made of
health giving herbs.

outside his ''surgery'' in an old house in ashi, a suburb
of lagos, is a bench on which sit three women huddling their
babies waiting to be circumcised.

the cry of a baby from the next room marks the start of
its circumcision which takes between 20 and 30 minutes depending
on the sex of the child.

for girls, circumcision or cliterdectomy -- the removal of
the clitoris -- takes less time. baba adija averages about five
babies each day.

charges for the operation range between three and four
dollars and its secrecy is a result of a clamp down by
government and non governmental organisations (ngos') devoted to
the eradication of back street, and especially female
circumcision.

cliterdectomy is not a universal tradition in nigeria, but it
is widespread, practiced in the belief that in its absence women
are promiscuous.

circumcision of boys is done in hospitals throughout the
country safely at a little over 10 u.s. dollars.

but ngos such as the inter african committee against harmful
practices condemn female genital mutilation and surgeries
such as baba adija's.

the ngo, according to spokesperson dupe onadeko, is ''trying
to eradicate those traditional practices such as female
circumcision which are harmful and have adverse effects on
the health of women and children in africa''.

onadeko, a medical doctor, says the ngo has chosen the option
of increased public education to eliminate the practice and
''enhance the status of women and children''.

first established in dakar, senegal, in 1985, the
organisation has a membership of 20 african countries, and has
spread throughout nigeria's 30 states. (more/ips)


nigeria: female (2)

female circumcision has been the subject of much research by
the department of social and preventive medicine of the
university college hospital here, where onadeko works.

the practice is rooted in erroneous beliefs over female
sexuality and that in marriage it ensures faithfullness to a
husband.

ironically, ''we have discovered that most of those in
prostitution have been circumcised'', says onadeko. ''cutting
off the clitoris of a girl does not eliminate prostitution or
promiscuity in our community''.

she argues that the work of the committee is not against all
forms of traditional practices but, ''it is condemning those
practices that are dangerous, harmful and cause illness,
social undesirability and even death due to infection''.

research by lagos teaching hospital, the oldest in the
country, demonstrates the connection between the ''various
complications have been attributed to female circumcision''.

''the child could contract tetanus or aids through
circumcision because it is the same instruments that are
used for all babies'', onadeko adds.

it is the risk of aids that is particularly worrisome to the
ngo and the government. official estimates put the number of
those currently infected at half a million out of 89 million
people in africa's most populous country.

around 436 full blown cases have been reported but the figure
of infection by the virus is expected to rise to to an alarming
four million in 1996 and seven million by the year 2000.

in a nationwide radio and television broadcast to mark
tuesday's world aids day, vice president augustus aikhomu
said all the 30 states and 589 local governments will
contribute specified levies totalling 16.2 million dollars to a
special aids control account.

ngos such as the inter african committee against harmful
practices have organised information and education campaigns
aimed in part at circumcision practicioners.

an undaunted onadeko says the work of the ngo will continue.
''we want female circumcision completely stopped'', says the
medical doctor. (end/ips/ro/oa/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african