The Niger State Government has said that it is working on extending maternity leave for civil servants from three to six months.
It added that a two-week paternity leave was also being considered for the male civil servants whose wives just have babies.
During the flag-off of the World Breastfeeding Week in the state, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Health, Dr. Mohammed Gana said the review of the maternity leave had reached an advanced stage.
Gana said the initiative was part of the government’s policy to encourage women to breastfeed their children to curtail malnutrition and other childhood diseases.
He said the government was working to put in place a support system that would ensure that work or any form of employment does not separate nursing mothers from their babies.
“The evolving global workplace has seen a lot of women engaged in one form of employment to another. The engagement of women in a trade or employment is a positive development but this is taking a toll on the quality of breastfeeding in terms of duration and frequency.
“Work or any form of employment should not separate the nursing mother from her baby. The state government is committed to providing the resources and championing the best practices for workplace-related breastfeeding support in all 25 local government areas, across different contract types and sectors, and promoting actions that can be taken to help ensure breastfeeding works for all women who work, wherever they work.
“The Government of Niger State is restructuring all workplaces, private and public, to enable nursing mothers to breastfeed and work”, he said.
