Culture and tradition and their corresponding practices have always been a symbol of African communities.
Despite the wide spread of civilization and Western culture that tends to have overshadowed some African cultural practices, some conc cultures and traditions that are deeply rooted are still practiced in some African cities alongside the adopted Western cultures but some cultural practices have outlived their acceptance and usefulness.
The old Yoruba empires like Oyo, Ekiti, Ijebu, Iwo, Akure etc are known for their facial tribal marks. Tribal marks are symbols of identity in that region. You can only be identified as a member of that community through the tribal marks inscribed on you by your parents or guardians at birth. For instance, one can easily identify an Ijebu person (even up to date) merely by the strokes of lines on his face inscribed on him as a tribal mark at birth.
There is also a tribe in South Africa, as a way of their own cultural identity, community members who belong to that culture cut their index fingers immediately after birth. That barbaric act stands as a mark of identity or their own tribal marks.
Another African tribe known as the Danis tribe located in the Southern and Eastern regions of Africa till date also practices a jungle culture and tradition which requires “Finger Cutting” as well. The Women of the tribe must cut off a part of their fingers when a member of the family does. While in some other cultures, women are to (as a matter of cultural and traditional obligation ) shave their heads or rub themselves with mud when a family member dies.
Members of these cultural communities who do not identify with these cultural and traditional practices are regarded as outcasts or infidels.
Thank God for civilization and Westernization. Most of these rituals, cultures and traditions are getting outlawed hugely because of westernization and civilization and also due to the fact that most of these cultures and traditions are (in all honesty) mundane, barbaric, inhuman or “repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience”, and they are also some health concerns surrounding it. For instance, female genital mutilation or female circumcision which is practised in some cultural communities as we have come to know placed the girl child at grave health risk; as for tribal marks, babies can be infected or permanently disfigured with the sharp (unsterilized) objects that are used to tear their flesh in the name of tribal mark placements.
These cultures and rituals are no longer accepted and now jungle practices, hence why some have been outlawed. Some of the notable cultural and traditional practices that have been outlawed in Nigeria include female circumcision and tribal marks. Female circumcision which used to be a big deal in some Nigerian communities has been outlawed in Nigeria and it is now a criminal offense to mutilate female genitals in the name of circumcision. So also, tribal marks on babies have as well been outlawed in some states in Nigeria and it is a criminal offense to inscribe a man on a baby in the name of placing a tribal mark.
In Oyo State, for example, one of the provisions of the Child Rights Law is the prohibition of tribal marks on babies. According to the law, “No person shall tattoo or make a skin mark or cause any tattoo or skin mark to be made on a child” and as a punishment for offenders, the law imposes a fine or one-month imprisonment or both for violation.
A child when grown up and has attained the age of majority can consciously decide if he or she wants a tribal mark or not but that decision is never to be made by the parents or guardian.
Conservatives can argue that cultures and traditions are the foundation upon which African communities are built and allowing civilization to overshadow African cultures and traditions may not end well but we can all see for ourselves that some of the old cultures are mundane, inhumane and barbaric, hence why it is necessary to put laws in place to checkmate some of those cultures and outlaw the ones that are out of place.
