From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse
The Jigawa State government said , the arrangements to ensure the implementation of six months maternity leave for lactating mothers is in pipeline as both the Legislatives and executives expressed concerns about the malnutrition issues in the state.
This was announced by the permanent secretary to the office of Jigawa State Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Muhammad Yahaya Jabo during the breakfast meeting with Chief Executives and key stakeholders on the adoption of the child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and implementation of six months paid maternity leave, organized by Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition (CS-SUNN) with support From United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) held at Tahir Guest hotel Dutse.
He explained that, the present administration is the state is doing all it’s best to promote six months exclusive breastfeeding including an effort to create law for six months maternity leave for lactating mothers for excessive child Nutrition in the state.
According to him, the state government also introduced various programmes including MASAKI Nutrition program to achieve the desired goals of reducing the Stunting rates of children across the 27 local government areas of Jigawa.
Speaking on behalf of Jigawa State house of Assembly during the meeting, the chairman house committee on health and member representing Guri constituency, Honourable Usman Abdullahi Musari explained that, the house deliberated on the issue of Six Months Maternity Leave and handed over to executives for approval which according to him will soon be put into action.
He added that, apart of continues sensitization and enlightenment campaign on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, Jigawa Assembly this year contributed three hundred million (N300,000,000) from the 30 members of the house with additional N250 million from the state government for the purchase of Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Food for Jigawa Children.
The lawmaker then, commended UNICEF and CS-SUNN for their concerns and effort to improve the life of children in Jigawa, and assured more commitments from both Jigawa State lawmakers and the executives to improve the life of women and children in the state.
While delivering his speech, the Co-chair National Steering Committee of CS-SUNN Dr Adio Olusegun commended the effort of present administration in the state towards improving the life of pregnant women and children.
He also advocated for the reduction of Stunting rates in Jigawa to 20%, adding that investing in Children is just like investing in the brighter future of the state. “In Jigawa State there is need for collaborative effort and engagement of all stakeholders to address the challenges of malnutrition.
