Nursing mothers to get 6-month maternity leave in Ondo

Nursing mothers in Ondo State will now have their maternity leave extended from the current three, to six months as part of efforts to ensure total child development in the state.

The State Head of Service, Pastor Kayode Ogundele, disclosed this on Wednesday when he received members of the Ondo State chapter of the Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, in his office in Akure.

Ogundele said the move was to build a society where children raised had all that was required in terms of maternal care.

He added that medical experts have affirmed that breast feeding should be exclusive in the first six months.

The Head of Service added that the decision was to enable mothers to give their newborn babies adequate attention during the leave period.

He stressed that such mothers would be more focused and productive when they resume work as all the initial child-raising challenges would have been addressed sufficiently during the leave period.

He said that the current government’s efforts were aimed at providing a better society for women, and that the agency for the Protection Against Gender Violence had been recently established in the state.

“This is in addition to the full-fledged Ministry of Women Affairs to address women and children related issues,’’ the HoS said.

Ogundele commended the complementary roles of FIDA to ameliorate the plights of women and children in the society.

“FIDA, you have been doing a great job. We have been seeing your roles in terms of activism, advocacy and other things you have been doing to help the vulnerable in the society. It is a good job and we pray God will strengthen you to keep it up,” he said.

He assured female lawyers and other categories of officers of getting whatever was due to them in the service of the state.

The FIDA State Chairperson, Mrs Catherine Ogunjebi, advocated for the elimination of some encumbrances in the administration of maternity leave irrespective of marital status.

Ogunjebi also used the occasion to appeal for the elevation of female lawyers in the service of the state to the position of Permanent Secretaries.

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