UNICEF Programme Officer, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Imo State chapter, Chigozie Ojiaku has disclosed that about 58.1 percent of girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 are at great risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Imo State.
He stated this while addressing students of the Mother of Mercy Convent, Umunakanu-Owerri in the Ehime Mbano LGA of the state.
Ojiaku who harped on the dangers of the FGM practices in the state, raised the alarm on its dire consequences.
He further said that FGM practice was against the rights of victims as enshrined in human rights acts, adding that the girl-child should be left the way God created her.
Ojiaku admonished mothers to discourage the practice by their infants and children either with ointments or warm water, insisting that the practice was an anomaly that must be corrected.
He added, “FGM has no benefit but rather poses risk to the lives, health and all round development of the victims.
“The massage or cutting of flesh around the female genitals for certain social and cultural reasons leads to immediate and long term consequences, such as excessive bleeding, severe pain, fracture of the bones, loss of sexual drive and prolonged labour.”
