By Ahmed Salami
Nigeria stands at a complex intersection of heritage, identity, and moral conscience. Across the country particularly in parts of the South-West certain customs that once served to bind communities now coexist uneasily with the demands of modern ethics and human rights. From Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to degrading widowhood rituals, and from rigid initiation rites to harmful corpse-related practices, a quiet but urgent cultural reckoning is underway.
When Culture Becomes a Cage
Traditions are meant to provide structure, belonging, and ethical guidance. For centuries, African customs from initiation rites to communal justice systems shaped responsible citizenship and maintained social cohesion. These practices were philosophies in motion, grounded in moral teachings about duty, responsibility, and community.
But some customs have strayed far from this moral foundation. They now operate less as rites of unity and more as mechanisms of control especially over women.
Consider the deeply ingrained widowhood rituals still practiced across parts of Nigeria. Behind the walls of family compounds, many widows experience humiliation that modern society should no longer tolerate. Some are forced to shave their heads, drink water used to bathe their husbands’ corpses, or remain isolated for weeks all under the guise of “purification.” These rites are not harmless antiques; they are forms of gender-based violence, and their persistence in 2025 is not simply cultural nostalgia it is a national failing.
Similarly, FGM despite legal prohibition, advocacy campaigns, and medical evidence of harm continues quietly in rural, semi-urban, and even aristocratic households. In elite South-West communities, the practice is seen as a marker of lineage, moral discipline, and family prestige. Girls subjected to FGM are often treated not as individuals with rights, but as custodians of social and ancestral honour. Rejecting the ritual risks family disapproval, spiritual condemnation, and public shame.
Culture, in these contexts, becomes a cage gilded with heritage, morality, and tradition, yet sustained by silence and coercion.
The Myth of Necessity and the Burden on Women
Supporters of harmful widowhood rituals and FGM often defend them as cultural imperatives, claiming they preserve identity, protect lineage, or prevent moral decay. But these justifications disproportionately target women, controlling their sexuality, policing their behaviour, and denying bodily autonomy.
If culture must be preserved, it should never come at the cost of human dignity. Rites that degrade, endanger, or traumatise women weaken, rather than strengthen, communities. They transmit fear instead of values, trauma instead of morality, and silence instead of solidarity.
To insist that such practices are untouchable because they are “traditional” is to confuse heritage with harm. Culture is not static. African societies have historically adapted customs in response to evolving realities. Reforming traditions today is not betrayal it is continuity.
Silence as an Enabler of Abuse
Harmful practices persist not only because of belief, but because of silence. Many widows never report the abuse they endure. Many girls undergo FGM in secrecy, subdued by fear of ostracism or spiritual threat. Families reinforce this silence by treating such matters as “household issues,” insulated from public scrutiny.
This silence extends to institutions meant to protect the vulnerable. Law enforcement officers often hesitate to intervene, citing cultural sensitivity or fear of backlash from traditional leaders. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act and constitutional protections remain under-enforced.
Laws are meaningless when moral courage is absent and enforcement is selective. Nigeria cannot continue to boast of constitutional rights while entire communities operate parallel systems founded on fear, coercion, and patriarchal control.
Decolonising Tradition: Reform Without Erasure
Reforming harmful customs does not mean rejecting African identity. It means reclaiming heritage from distortions of both colonial oppression and internal patriarchy. Decolonisation requires introspection. It calls for communities to preserve what uplifts and discard what destroys. Rituals can retain symbolic meaning while shedding violence.
Some communities are already leading the way:
Initiation rites now emphasise leadership, life skills, and cultural education rather than physical harm.
Widowhood support programs focus on social and economic assistance rather than humiliation.
Traditional courts increasingly integrate fairness and individual rights, especially for women and vulnerable members of society.
These examples show that cultural pride and human rights are not incompatible. Harm is the enemy, not heritage.
FGM and Widowhood: A Test of National Morality
The persistence of FGM and degrading widowhood rituals represents a deeper crisis: the conflict between our moral aspirations and our cultural allegiances. Nigeria cannot aspire to gender equality while tolerating customs that violate human dignity.
A nation’s moral character is not measured by the text of its constitution, but by what it allows within homes, compounds, and communities. Widowhood should be a period of mourning not torment. Womanhood should be a journey of dignity not mutilation. Tradition should bind communities not break bodies.
The Path Forward
Ending harmful cultural practices requires coordinated, courageous action:
Government enforcement: Laws such as the VAPP Act must be applied rigorously, especially in rural areas.
Engaged traditional leadership: Leaders must become agents of reform rather than guardians of harm.
Religious accountability: Religious institutions must refuse to sanction cruelty in the name of culture.
Civil society awareness campaigns: Grassroots education should empower widows, girls, and communities to reject harmful practices.
Alternative rites: Communities should develop non-harmful ceremonies that preserve symbolic meaning without violating rights.
Family and community courage: Households must choose dignity over fear, empathy over intimidation.
Nigeria has the legislative framework. What remains is political will and moral courage.
Conclusion: Culture for a New Era
Nigeria faces a defining moment. The question is not whether tradition should survive, but what kind of tradition deserves to. Customs that unite, teach, and strengthen must be preserved. Practices that humiliate, scar, or silence must be reformed or abandoned.
True cultural pride is not the stubborn preservation of everything old; it is the courageous refinement of what is inherited.
The female body is not a battleground for culture. Widowhood is not a stage for humiliation. And tradition must never serve as an excuse for cruelty.
Nigeria must choose a future where culture and dignity walk hand in hand where heritage is celebrated without sacrificing humanity. Only then can the nation honour its past while protecting those who will carry it into the future.
Salami, A Journalist and public Analysis writes from Ibadan, Oyo State
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