Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), a non-governmental group, has started advocating for government agencies to provide six months of paid maternity leave to nursing moms.
When implemented, the group claimed that a six-month maternity leave for working nursing moms would promote exclusive breastfeeding.
The group maintained that six months of paid leave was necessary, despite the fact that nursing mothers employed by the Enugu State government now get four months of leave.
This was revealed by Hope Ikani, the program officer for Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), at a two-day capacity building workshop for CSOs in Enugu State on advocacy strategy and budget tracking.
She clarified that the workshop’s goal was to increase CSOs in Enugu State’s capacity to assist in achieving the ongoing UNICEF project’s goal.
She emphasized the necessity of providing six months of paid leave to nursing moms employed by government agencies, as he claimed this would motivate them to practice exclusive breastfeeding.
She expressed the hope that private employers will take a cue from the government and provide their employees the same six months of paid maternity leave.
Ikani said that eating a balanced diet is the cornerstone of good health and that they advocated for women who are well because they will have healthy offspring.
She also said that they were advocating in the various states for higher nutrition funding.
According to Ikani, the UNICEF project “Increased Investment In Nutrition To Scale Up Quality Nutrition Services” would result in increased funding releases and use of nutrition programs at the federal and in a few state levels.
