By Stanley Okehie
Obibi Uratta Autonomous Community in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State has inaugurated a committee to review its byelaws and end harmful traditional norms practiced in the community.
The development was a fallout of a three-day retreat organized by the Centre for the Right to Health.
The retreat was aimed at transforming harmful cultural norms that drive gender-based violence in Imo State.
In an interview, the traditional ruler of Obibi Uratta Autonomous Community Eze Boniface Ariri identified female genital mutilation as a common practice among women in the community.
He described it as an age-long practice that is still prevalent due to poor knowledge of its attendant consequences.
Eze Ariri said the training had exposed the participants particularly women to the dangers associated with female genital mutilation and other harmful cultural practices.
He said the committee was necessary to ensure the full implementation of measures to address identified harmful practices in the community.
The traditional ruler urged the Centre for the Right to Health to extend the training to other communities to achieve greater impact across the state.
The President-General of the community Mr. Alphonsus Oriaku said forced marriage, child marriage, incest, disinheritance and denial of rights were prevalent in the community.
He assured that the community would swing into action to end the practices and other harmful norms through the committee.
Mr. Oriaku also promised to cascade the training to the grassroots to ensure that more members of the community benefit from the knowledge gained.
The Community Woman Leader Lady Prisca Ugwuadu said the training would bring about the desired changes in the community.
She promised a better future for women and other community members through the knowledge gained from the retreat.
Lady Ugwuadu condemned harmful widowhood practices including the shaving of hair, restrictions on movement and forcing widows to cook separately, saying such practices infringe on fundamental human rights.
She reaffirmed the community’s determination to end such practices.
The Community Woman Leader also promised that the community would support and nurture any girl who becomes pregnant instead of forcing her into marriage, as was previously practiced before the retreat.
She further promised to cascade the training to other women in the community, ensure full compliance and enforce sanctions against defaulters.
The Cabinet Chairman Sir Athanacius Chukwudi urged the committee to work towards eradicating the Osu caste system and other harmful cultural norms.
He pledged his readiness to support efforts aimed at ending the practices.
Chief Anthony Kamalu said there were issues that had been neglected and considered minor in the community, but the knowledge gained from the retreat had made participants realize that some of them constituted grievous offences.
He said forcing a widow to drink water used in washing her deceased husband’s corpse remained an evil practice that must be condemned by all.
Chief Kamalu advocated increased sensitization on the dangers associated with harmful cultural practices.
A facilitator Joy Daberechi Onuoha said the participants had gained useful knowledge about harmful traditional norms.
She reminded them that a culture of silence protects perpetrators and leaves victims to suffer and die in silence and trauma.
Onuoha urged community members to speak up, take action and do away with social norms that harm members of the community.
She recommended behavioural changes, a review of harmful norms and sustained sensitization as measures for building a better society.