By NICHOLAS DECHI

The Benue Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Creativity, Mr Terkimbi Ikyange, says the three months given to nursing mothers as maternity leave is grossly inadequate for achieving the goal of exclusive breastfeeding.

Ikyange stated this when members of Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), led by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Coordinator, Ngozika Ibhadode, paid him an advocacy visit on Monday in Makurdi.

According to him, the three-month maternity leave is too short for women to exclusively breastfeed their children for the required duration of six months.

He, however, urged the visiting members of the team that aside making case for the working class women, they should extend their advocacy to the larger society.

The commissioner also encouraged them to take their advocacy visit to the state House of Assembly, Association of Wives of Assembly Members, commissioners? wives, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and relevant stakeholders so as to escalate their message.

While stating that he was fully aware of the immense benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, he promised that his ministry would support their intentions wholeheartedly.

Ikyange disclosed that at the moment, there was no desk officer for nutrition in the ministry, but promised that a nutrition unit would be created after due consultations with relevant authorities.

Earlier, the FCT coordinator encouraged Benue to join the states that had approved six-month paid maternity leave for nursing mothers.

Ibhadode said that so far, 13 put of the 36 states of the federation had implemented the six-month paid maternity leave.

?Instead of treating malnutrition, use the opportunity to exclusively breastfeed your children,? she said.

The coordinator advised every ministry to create a nutrition unit and make a budget line for nutrition. (NAN)