The Niger State Government is aiming to increase the state’s civil officials’ three-month maternity leave to six months.
A two-week paternity leave is also being discussed for male federal officials whose spouses have given birth.
The announcement was made on Tuesday during the official start of the World Breastfeeding Week in the State by Dr. Mohammed Gana, the Permanent Secretary of the Niger State Ministry of Health.
He promised that the State’s review of maternity leave was well underway.
The government is attempting to set up a support structure to make sure that work or any other type of occupation does not separate nursing moms from their infants, the Permanent Secretary said.
The nursing mother and her child should not be separated by work or any other sort of occupation, he declared.
“The State government is committed to providing the tools and championing the best strategies for workplace-related breastfeeding support in all 25 local government areas, across various contract types and sectors, and to promoting actions that can be taken to help ensure breastfeeding is successful for all working women, wherever they work.”
He reaffirmed that the Niger State government was reorganizing all private and public enterprises to allow nursing moms to both work and breastfeed.