The representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Mrs Ratidzai Ndhlovu, said Osun State topped the states that practice female genital mutilation in Nigeria and called for the urgent need to end the practice.

Mrs Ndhlovu said this while speaking during a meeting organised by‎ the UNFPA in collaboration with the Shericare Foundation (SCARF), the pet project of the wife of the Osun State governor, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola.

According to the UNFPA official, “the prevalence of female genital mutilations in Osun State stands at 76.6 per cent, followed by Ondo State, which is 74.” She said that 8,000 girls are mutilated daily, while 85 million girls born between 2000 and 2010 are at risk of mutilation.

She noted that the event was taking place in Osun because FGM practice was common in the state.

Mrs Aregbesola, while speaking, described female genital mutilation as “primitive”.

She therefore promised total eradication of such practice in Osun, saying Nigeria has extant national policies and laws, banning female genital mutilation which would be enforced in Osun State to eradicate the practice.

Gov Aregbesola while speaking, decried the prevalence of the practice in Osun and other states. He commended the former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, for signing the bill on female genital mutilation into law on May 5, 2015.

“Everybody must work hard to ensure that the practice is done away with. Besides, the damage it has done to women, FGM has created health challenges like acute urinary retention, while child birth is affected.

Moreover, infection and many other complications are among' the many consequences the of the FGM practice,” he said.