UNICEF advocates 14 working days paternity leave for Bauchi civil servants

Mrs Philomena Irene, the Nutrition Specialist, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria, Bauchi Field Office, has advocated 14 working days paternity leave for civil servants in Bauchi State.

She made the call at an event to commemorate the 2023 World Breastfeeding Week, organised by the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency on Wednesday.

Our correspondent reports that World Breastfeeding Week is an annual celebration held from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7 to raise awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding to nursing mothers, babies, families, societies and national development.

The week-long event is celebrated in more than 120 countries and has “Let’s Make Breastfeeding and Work, Work” as the theme for 2023.

The nutrition specialist said that protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding addresses inequalities that stand in the way of sustainable development.

She, therefore, called for the extension of maternity leave from four to six months and recommended the establishment of creches in workplaces to aid breastfeeding.

The specialist said that optimal infant feeding is a building block for human capital development and essential for child survival, improved health and development.

She attributed poor Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices as major contributors to the high burden of infant and childhood morbidity and mortality.

The UNICEF officersaid “scientific evidence reported in the 2016 and 2023 Lancet Breastfeeding Series confirmed that the benefits of breastfeeding include fewer childhood infections, increased intelligence, probable protection against overweight and diabetes, and cancer prevention for mothers.

“In Bauchi State, only 26.4 per cent of children aged 0 to 5 months are exclusively breastfed according to Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2021 report.

“While the world is on track to reach the 2025 target of 50 per cent exclusive breastfeeding rate, Bauchi State needs to do more.”

The specialist said one of the primary barriers to breastfeeding or early cessation of breastfeeding is the prevalence of workplace challenges, emphasising the “women require sufficient time and support to breastfeed successfully.

“Women with less than three months of maternity leave tend to have shorter breastfeeding durations than those with three or more months of leave.

“The 1999 Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution, the 2008 Public Service Rules, and the 2004 Nigeria Labour Law all recognised and assent to the provision of maternity entitlement.

“Nigeria currently implements two maternity entitlement provisions.

“The first, recognised at all levels of public service and codified in the Nigerian Labour Act, provides up to 12 weeks of maternity leave with at least 50 per cent salary and upon return to work, half an hour twice a day during working hours to breastfeed.

“The second, recently adopted by the Federal Public Service and yet to be ratified by states and local government civil service is a 16-week maternity leave provision with full pay and two hours off each day to breastfeed up to six months after the employee resumes duty.

“According to the study of Maternity and Paternity Leave Entitlements and Workplace Lactation Policies and Practices conducted by A&T and UNICEF in 2019, only nine per cent of oganisations have a workplace breastfeeding policy in Nigeria.”