A medical expert, Professor Babatunde Olofinbiyi, has said nurses and doctors were more guilty of engaging in female genital mutilation than traditional birth attendants.

Olofinbiyi said this in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday during the delayed celebration of the International Day of Zero Tolerance against FGM organised by the state Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Office of the Governor’s Wife.

In his lecture, he said, “FGM is a monster; an old traditional practice, which is being ‘medicalised’, but with a dint of hard work, we will be able to overcome it.

“Fifty per cent of those who still carry out FGM are nurses, while five per cent of the perpetrators are medical doctors.

“We have a long way to go. To win this battle, it has to start from within the healthcare practitioners. We have to fight the resistance from within.”

The expert, who said traditional birth attendants and local practitioners accounted for just 25 per cent of those involved in FGM, canvassed education of the girl-child and the community by saying, “We must educate the public to change their orientation and also educate the girl-child about the harmful effects of FGM.”

The Chief Medical Director, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, Prof Kayode Olabanji, said the state Sexual Assault Referral Centre, located within the facility, had attended to 151 victims of Gender-Based Violence in the last 18 months.

Olabanji said the figure, which comprised 110 rape cases and others, including intimate partners’ violence, batteries and victims of female genital mutilation, stated, “We should increase sensitisation to end the menace.”

The CMD said the fact that FGM victims presented themselves because of complications showed that the practice was still on.

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The state Chief Judge, Justice John Adeyeye, who said sensitisation against FGM should be stepped up, stated, “We should be aggressive in winning this war. We are totally in support and we will demonstrate this by applying all the extant laws.”

The CJ, represented by the acting Chief Registrar, Adesoji Adegboye, alleged that highly placed persons in the state were promoters of the harmful practice and said the judiciary would apply the law to bring perpetrators to justice so as to serve as deterrent to those who were involved in FGM.

The wife of the state governor, Bisi Fayemi, who said she always felt depressed whenever she talked about FGM after years of advocacy, warned that legal and punitive measures as enshrined in the 2019 Gender Based Violence Law would be meted to FGM practitioners in the state.

“There are sanctions in place because after persuasions for people to drop this bad habit, the government may start sending culprits to the Nigeria Correctional Centre on Afao Road. Let us end the practice in our generation. We must not pass FGM to our children and grandchildren. Let us set up advocacy committees in local government areas,” Mrs Fayemi stated.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Oyebanji Filani, and his Women Affairs counterpart, Alhaja Maryam Ogunlade, said all hands must be on the deck to bring the FGM practice to zero in the state in line with the theme of the programme, ‘Accelerating investment to end FGM’.