Govt to extend maternity leave to 6 months

The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Health, Pharmacist Ahmed Baba Yahaya said maternity leave in the state will be extended from four to six months to encourage and improve exclusive breastfeeding practice among working class mothers. Yahaya, who disclosed this yesterday when he hosted Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) that paid him an […]

The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Health, Pharmacist Ahmed Baba Yahaya said maternity leave in the state will be extended from four to six months to encourage and improve exclusive breastfeeding practice among working class mothers.

Yahaya, who disclosed this yesterday when he hosted Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) that paid him an advocacy visit in Lafia, noted that the move was to provide the babies with the needed nutrients for the first 1000 days of their lives.

He described the extension of maternity leave for civil servants as an investment in human capital development which he said would go a long way in addressing the issue of malnutrition in children in the state.

According to him, as an emergency Action Plan, the Ministry of Health will draft a ‘Leave Bill’ to the governor for onward transmission to the state assembly to make it a law.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Chairperson of CS-SUNN in Nasarawa State, Mrs Mercy Aso said the extension will equally help the full recovery of women after childbirth and support them to breastfeed their children exclusively for six months without any fear of losing their jobs.