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From Our Correspondent In Makurdi

The Director-General (DG), Budget and Economic Planning Commission, Benue, Prof. Jerome Andohol, said the state was working towards domesticating six months paid maternity leave for nursing mothers.

Andohol disclosed this during a breakfast meeting with key stakeholders and political office holders organised by United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) on Wednesday in Makurdi.

The theme of the meeting was adoption of the child nutrition fund and implementation of six months paid maternity leave.

The DG said that the aim was to enable nursing mothers who were civil servants to breastfeed their children adequately to avert malnutrition, stunted growth among others.

He encouraged relevant stakeholders in nutrition to take advantage of the matching grant provided by UNICEF in order to execute their nutrition related policies and programmes.

Meanwhile, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Coordinator, CS-SUNN, Ngozika Ibhadode, disclosed that the organisation was pushing for the domestication of paternity leave across all the states of the federation.

Ibhadobe said that the aim was to enable the men to support their wives to do exclusive breastfeeding, stressing that exclusive breastfeeding do boost immune system and it also help in brain development.

She advised public institutions to create breastfeeding corners or safe spaces for nursing mothers to enable them breastfeed their children even at work places.

Also, the Program Manager, CS-SUNN, Mr Ambrose Evhoesor, disclosed that malnutrition had a double burden and it consisted of undernutrition, overweight and obesity.

The Permanent Secretary of the commission, Mr Moses Levah, admonished parents to be giving their children the right food to avoid stunted growth, adding that breastfeeding mothers should be giving adequate breast milk to their children to make them strong and mentally alert.

He lamented that three months leave was not enough to handle office work and still breastfeed children adequately hence the need to extend it to six months.

The State Coordinator, CS-SUNN, Mrs Rachel Ityonzuul, said that the objective of the meeting was to secure commitment from policy makers on implementation of six months maternity leave with pay for women of reproductive age.

Ityonzuul further added that the meeting was also to secure commitment from policy makers for child nutrition fund in the state.