53 Communities Drop FGM in Imo, Vow to Prosecute Offenders

Image: Wikipedia

BY AMBY UNEZE

OWERRI (THIS DAY LIVE)--In line with the Imo State Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Prohibition Law No. 6 of 2017, about 54 autonomous communities in two local government areas of the state have publicly declared the abandonment of the practice of FGM and warned those who intended to go back to the practice should be prosecuted.

The two local governments are Ikeduru and Oguta council areas, as their traditional rulers, president-generals, women and youth leaders, and religious leaders gathered in their respective council headquarters to publicly re-state their collective resolutions of abandonment of FGM in all the communities under them.

In their separate resolutions signed by Chairman of Ikeduru Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Marcel Egemonu and Chairman and Secretary of Oguta Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze F.C. Okafor and Eze Albanus Ozuruoha respectively, said female genital mutilation had ceased to be a culture and tradition of the people of all the villages and communities in the two local governments.

According to them, “we the royal fathers of the various autonomous communities in the local governments and their entire people having been sensitised about the harmful effect of female genital mutilation, and having deliberated during several community dialogues and consensus building meetings, have recognised the immediate and long-term negative health and psychological consequences of FGM on the health of our daughters, wives, sisters, nieces and any other women who is subjected to this very harmful traditional practice.

“We also acknowledge that FGM is a denial of girls’ and women’s ability to fully exercise their human rights and to be free from discrimination, violence and inequality; based on these reasons we have reached a consensus to publicly declare; to leave our girls and women intact, because their beauty is preserved when they remain the way that God created them.

“To set up surveillance systems, in each community, to tract the birth of every girl-child and monitor them to ensure that they are not subjected to FGM, and to handover any community member who engages in FGM to law enforcement agencies for prosecution in accordance with the Imo State Female Genital Mutilation (Prohibition) Law 2017, or any other law prohibiting the practice in the State.

“Based on this public declaration, the practice of female genital mutilation is now forbidden in our local governments. We, hereby, urge everyone present today to publicise this decision to all the sons and daughters of the two local governments as well as our friends and well-wishers in Imo State and beyond,” they stated.

Expressing satisfaction over the decision to forbid female genital mutilation in their respective local government councils, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Chief of Field Office, Enugu, Dr. Ibrahim Conte urged the leaders of the various communities and villages in the council areas to maintain strictly the abandonment of FGM in their respective areas.

Conte, who represented by the UNICEF officer in charge of Child Protection, Mr. Victor Akachukwu said that the world body was happy to see this declaration of abandonment of female genital mutilation in the two local government areas saying “I want to say a big congratulations to you. If you abandonment FGM, we have keyed into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) tenets. After the public declaration, what do we do next is to monitor strict enforcement. We have to set up a surveillance team to monitor that is does not happen again in our areas”.

The leader of the abandonment of FGM sensitisation and Imo State Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Vitus Ekeocha described the publication declaration by the two local government leaders a broad social recognition which shows that the most people in the communities support FGM abandonment and would most like abandon the ugly practice, adding that the action marks a significant step in the campaign to end FGM.

He said that FGM being a social norm that regarded as collective representation of acceptable group conduct as well as individual perceptions of particular group conduct, therefore, they are viewed on cultural products which represent individual’s basic knowledge of what others do and think they should do, hence its abandonment should be a collective willingness.

Ekeocha recalled the process the UNICEF and her partners took to realise the declaration of abandonment of FGM proper being the outcome of various engagements, dialogue and advocacy meetings with critical segments on the immediate and long-term negative health and psychological consequences of FGM on the health of girls and women in the various villages and communities of the two local government areas.

According to Ekeocha, the journey towards ending FGM began in 2015 when UNICEF supported NOA to collaborate with the Imo State Ministries of Health, Gender and Social Development, Information, Child Protection Network to embark on the campaign promoting the rights and positive perception of the girl-child who has not undergone FGM.

He said “the Ministry of Gender and Vulnerable Groups Affairs through Child Rights Department was supported by UNICEF to inaugurate LGA Technical Committee on FGM (LTC).The Ministry also trained prosecutors, judiciary, magistrates, judges, police and lawyers on FGM practice and extant laws that prohibit the practice with the view to ending the practice.

He, therefore, reminded all the leaders in the various councils that having agreed that FGM is a harmful cultural practice; and not a religious requirement and has been abolished in all the villages and communities in the two local government areas, then the crucial role of mounting surveillance systems would established in affirming compliance.

FG Pledges To Lift STK Herbal Medicine, As NIPRD DG Tours Imo Factory

Obi Adigwe. Image: Twitter

BY AMBY UNEZE

OWERRI (THIS DAY LIVE)--The Director General of the National Institute for Pharmaceuticals Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Dr. Obi Adigwe has expressed federal government’s interest in promoting and improving herbal medicine for the cure of ailments.

This is as the Institute commended the management of STK Biotech Limited for producing world-class standard herbal supplement from plants for the treatment of diseases.

Adigwe, who made the observation during a facility tour of the factory at Umuoba, Uratta in Owerri North Local Government of Imo State, stated that the research for the production of the medicines met international standards more especially as the company sourced their raw materials locally and within the nearby West African sub-region.

According to him, there were a lot of potentials in what they were doing, adding, “I am impressed that they are able to transform what they had carried out in research into finished and useful products. It is a good beginning. The concept is quite encouraging inspite of the many challenging confronting you.”

Adigwe said, “My coming here and seeing what you are doing is a major step in coming to Abuja and Addis Ababa (African Union) headquarters for certification. We will see what to do to encourage you”.

He, however, urged the STK Biotech to carry the Anglo and Francophone West Africa countries in mind by printing the literature of the herbal supplement in English and French to enable both countries patronise the medicine.

Briefing the NIPRD Director General, Chairman of STK Biotech Limited, Mr. Stanley Ukaga said that they had been into research for a number of years having established partnership with Phytobiotechnology Research Laboratories in Cameroon and Science Medicine Research Institute United States of America (USA).

He said that time had come for the Nigerian government to fully support drug development projects involving the use of the herbs, adding “We have worked extensively on mushrooms which is an integral part of the STK Biotech products. Cultivation of mushrooms especially edible mushrooms for food, source of revenue as well as for medicinal purposes is very crucial to the Nigerian populace.

“We have succeeded in the cultivation of edible indigenous tropical mushrooms on different agricultural wastes for food and medicine. We have also put in place the facility to cultivate mushrooms to have ever-ready source and reduce our dependence on sourcing it from elsewhere beyond our shores,” he stated.

Ukaga maintained that inspite of the many challenges confronting them which include getting the regulators on time, power, dedicated manpower and government financial support, they were also confronted with issues of sourcing raw materials which were mainly located locally.

The Chief Operating Officer of STK Biotech, Prof. Kenneth Yongabi Anchang, who is also a Professor of Public Health and Infectiology, Imo State University, Owerri (IMSU) said STK Biotech was continuously identifying, testing and tagging plants as part of the development of a medicinal research garden. The results of this ongoing discovery which begun 10-11 years ago at the Phytobiotechnology Research Laboratories in Cameroon and is continuing here in Nigeria with the collaboration of Imo State University, Owerri gave credence to this discovery.

In her remark, Professor Chinyere Ukaga, a director of the company as well as a Professor of Public Health Parsitology, Imo State University, Owerri added that STK Biotech was engaged in a broad range of ecological scientific studies, ranging from ethno-botany and Phyto-biotechnology to medicine and pharmacology.

She noted that time had come for Nigerian government to fully support drug development projects involving the use of herbs to treat ailments including malaria, cancer, HIV, etc. “The need to develop accurate dosages for phyto-products which have been certified to have anti-parasitic activities is one of the focus of STK Biotech Ltd.

“The government needs to devise means of monitoring the medicinal plants, encourage their cultivation, conservation and preservation. This data can be generated through research by STK Biotech Ltd with support from the relevant funding bodies.

“There is need to centralise and expand the checklist of locally available medicinal plants in the country as a database for medicinal plant research”, he added.

Imo Govt Awards N40bn Contracts for Road Rehabilitation

Governor Emeka Ihedioha. Image via This Day

BY AMBY UNEZE

OIWERRI (THIS DAY)--Imo State Government yesterday said it has awarded over N40 billion contracts for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of dilapidated roads in the state, especially the major roads that link the state capital to other zones.

Governor Emeka Ihedioha, who disclosed this at a parley with newsmen in Owerri, said 25 of the road contracts had been awarded with the first 19 road network already completed, while 15 per cent mobilisation fee paid to the contractors as they have satisfied the state’s requirements for the Advance Payment Guarantee (APG).

For the avoidance of doubt on the identity of the contractors, the governor ordered them to mount sign boards indicating names, addresses, etc of the contractors for public consumption, adding that his intention was to establish good governance through the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).

The governor explained that the commission of inquiry put in place by his administration on contract review and forceful acquisition of lands by the immediate past administration in the state was in response to deluge of petitions by aggrieved individuals.

“We selected professionals, without a single politician as members of the commission. My administration’s charge towards them is to do the needful without fear or favour. I did not set up the committee to witch-hunt anybody. The Bureau for Public Procurement is already working transparently to serve the state well,” he said.

The governor, who justified the introduction of a Single Treasury Account (TSA) in the state, said though the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) has increased to N877 million, Imo State’s monthly wage bill stood at N2.7 billion, just as about N1.1 billion was being deducted monthly from the federation account consequent upon the bailout funds.

Ihedioha added that N280 million was being saved monthly from pension scheme, which was paid to ghost pensioners previously while the monthly payment for pension gulped around N680 million, describing the pension verification exercise as the best thing that happened to the state.

Professing his determination to run a transparent government with the principle of separation of power in place, the governor said 16 companies of high repute are already working in the state, just as 10 youths from each of the 27 local government areas of the state are being trained on batch basis on modern agricultural techniques as part of his administration’s youth empowerment package.

He also explained that Imo State was set to bid for the National Sports Festival with over N200 million injected in the renovation of the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri, while ultra- modern sporting facilities were being installed to bring the sporting arena to an international standard.

“Without a strong economy, you cannot advance the growth of Imo State and institutional building is about resources,” adding that he’s working round the clock to revamp the state’s education sector and to renovate its decayed infrastructure.

SOURCE: THIS DAY