The Nigerian senate introduced a bill which provide for the Prohibition of Facial Mutilation, Offences, Prosecution and Punishment of Offenders on Tuesday, March 21, The bill passed second reading in the Senate.
According to Vanguard newspapers, the bill is also cover the Protection of victims under threat of facial mutilation and other related Matters.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi), said during the Senate’s plenary session, that there was no doubt that Africans of old used tribal marks as a means of proper identification.
While leading debate on the bill, Melaye said back in the days, members of the same village, tribe or lineage had the same tribal marks.
He said that the hometown and lineage of a child or anyone with tribal marks were immediately identified, while outsiders who did not have such marks were also spotted.
He explained that parents also used tribal marks to lay credence to the legitimacy of their children.
According to Melaye:
“all these reasons cannot be scientifically proven, and hence cannot enjoy the support for this harmful practice. The irony of these marks is that it makes victims subjects of mockery by friends. Imagine someone being called a tiger simply because of the thick cheeks resulting from facial marks.”
“These people have been subjected to different reactions. Some have lamented the marks that are bequeathed on them as generational inheritance.
“Many have cursed the day which this dastardly act was performed on the”
“Many of the grown adults have confessed that the most terrific debacle of their lives is their tribal marks. Some have become eunuchs because of this stigma.
“Imagine a boy in the class of 25 pupils carrying a tribal mark. His mates will call him the boy with the railway line. They are emblems of disfiguration.
“Some of them have developed low self-esteem and most times treated with scorn and ridicule including rejection by the female folks.
“The reactions of people who interact with them say it dampens and lowers their spirit.”
Melaye noted that besides the health implication of the practice, it was an infringement on the rights of children, adding that every Nigerian child deserved the right to live.
According to him, it is time a law is enacted to stop the dastardly act, as the popularity and acceptance of facial marks are waning.
He said: “People now prefer that their identity cards remain in their pockets not faces anymore.
“Long before the awareness programme on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), many people, mostly children who were subjected to tribal marks had inadvertently been infected with infectious diseases.
“Sharp instruments used by locals were not sterilised leading to risk of AIDS, including Hepatitis B and C.”
He concluded that the bill, when passed into law would help to check the act, which was a sign of man’s inhumanity to man in a country as great as Nigeria.
His assertion was supported by the Senate minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
According to Akpabio, the bill is a welcome development.
He said: “In those days, people wanted it because they were from royal homes, but these days it is no longer in vogue.
“It is a violation of the rights of children. The child has no option and can’t fight back. Outside the infection, pain can generate something else and lead to insanity.
“If we have a law already in existence, we should merge the bill with that of female mutilation because they are similar.”
The senator also called for stiff penalties for offenders to serve as deterrent to others.
In his assessment, senate Chief Whip, Sen. Olusola Adeyeye commended Melaye for coming up with such an important bill.
According to him, many children have suffered stigmatisation as a result of the practice.
Adeyeye described the act as evil, adding that if it was for the purpose of identification, there was no way any parent would not identify their children without tribal marks.
He said: “In the 21st century, there is no need to argue that either because of religion or custom someone would use sharp object on their children just for identification.
“It is disheartening to note that children who have not been tested to know if they are short of blood are being made to lose blood.
“In the 21st century, not only this chamber but every chamber in Africa should rise up to this occasion to stop the pains being inflicted on our children.”
The bill was subsequently referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to be returned to Senate in four weeks.
