• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Enugu State mulls 6 months maternity leave for lactating mothers

Enugu State mulls 6 months maternity leave for lactating mothers

The Enugu State Government will soon adopt six months maternity leave for lactating mothers who are employees of the state. this is coming from moves being promoted by the wife of the Governor, Monica Ugwuanyi; as she promised to do everything in her power for the good of mothers and their children in the state.

The state first lady, who stated this while declaring open a workshop on domestication of the state policy on food and nutrition organised by the state Ministry of Budget and Planning with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF) in Enugu, promising to continue appealing to her husband on the need for six months maternity leave for lactating women in the state.

If granted, the first lady Monica Ugwuanyi said it would give the nursing mothers enough time to take care of their children, and provide necessary food and nutrients required for the growth of the children.

“Enugu will soon join other states to ensure that children get adequate nutrition. As I pledged to ensure that everything concerning mother and child, whatever we are doing as far as it would be for the benefit of mother and child, we will do it. So, for 6 months maternity leave, I will keep on disturbing my husband the governor. Every morning I will remind him of the states that have done that. So, Enugu should join. It will not be long,” the Enugu first lady said.

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She commended the state government for inaugurating the Enugu Committee for Food and Nutrition, with the aim and objective to domesticate the National Policy on Food and Nutrition and the National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition in Enugu State.

The wife of the Governor called on members of the committee to put in their best to achieve the objective as quickly as possible; and not to wait for 2024. “We’re not here for joke, but for serious business,” she insisted.

The Enugu first lady also commended the UNICEF for always supporting all programs that have to do with the development of women and children in the state, announcing that food and nutrition policy and programs that are for the benefits of women and children have become priority projects for all the wives of governors of every state in Nigeria; and they would make sure that it works.

“We must achieve something, 2024 isn’t far; please let us do it and get away with it now and right, so that our children will be well nourished, and the mothers also will be healthy,” she said.

The first lady said that due to Covid- 19 pandemic, a lot of existing structures that champion nutrition have been side- lined. She said, according to the UN, 6.7 million additional children can become severely malnourished due to the destruction of health services.

In a goodwill message, the chief of UNICEF field office Enugu, Ibrahim Conteh appealed to all the state governments to domesticate the 2016 National Policy on Food and Nutrition, for it is important to the growth and development of the nation.

He said that UNICEF, as a UN agency, has the mandate to ensure that every child realizes his or her right to nutrition; and in all sections, to ensure that the child grows up to be a heathy child and contribute meaningfully to the growth of the society.

“Our interest in nutrition is extremely important because if a child is not brought up in a very good nutrition way, you can be sure that the cognitive capacity of the child will be undermined; and therefore, every other organ of the child will not grow well, including the mental capacity. It is extremely important for a child to have very good nutrition as they are growing up so that every part of their body grows perfectly well,” Conteh said.

The chief of UNICEF Enugu field office noted that the UN agency acknowledges nutrition as a very big challenge in Nigeria that leads to malnutrition and stunted growth. Hence, he promised that his organization would continue to support the state government to ensure that every child gets maximum nutrition in the state.

Elizabeth Ugwu, a professor a resource person on food and nutrition, speaking on the topic: “Enugu State Nutrition Situation,” noted that the state has a lot of challenges in food and nutrition sector. She appealed to the committee to live up to expectations.