From Fisayo Akinduro, Osogbo

Osun State Government has said that anybody, regardless of his or her status, caught engaging Female Genital Mutilation in the state will face the full wrath of the law.
Director of Public Health in the State Ministry of Health, Dr. Gbenga Adepoju disclosed this during a stakeholders forum put in place for the dissemination of research findings on FGM in Osun.
Adducing the reason for the forum on “Stop the Cut Project; Partnering to End FGM”, Adepoju said the gathering was called to ensure that FGM is totally eradicated in the state and to also sensitize people of the state against such practice.
He revealed that the State Ministry of Health has taken bold steps by collaborating with the organization responsible for putting an end to the menace in our society, adding that the powers that be are not also left out in the campaign.
The health expert further disclosed that the ministry is also in partnership with other government ministries such as the Ministry of Justice, Education among others, noting that NGOs and security outfits are not left out at ensuring that everybody knows about FGM and do not run fowl of the law.
He commended the State Government for responding positively by putting the laws backing the activities of the project in place.
He advised the people of the state to do away with the practice, affirming that there are no known advantages of it globally.
Also speaking, the Programme Officer in charge of Stop the Cut Project who is also a representative of the organization implementing the project in the state (HACEY Health Initiative), Oluwatomi Olunuga explained that the research findings was based on the prevalence level of knowledge and level of awareness of FGM among the people of the state.
She made it known that its prevalence among those from 18 years and above is very high while a considerable reduction has been recorded among those from 18 years and below.
She added that the trend among those from 40 years and above is high while the statistics for the people between 18 and 29 years is about 66.0 percent.
She maintained that the knowledge about the practice is quite poor, saying that it was realized that there was a huge gap between awareness and knowledge of FGM in the state.