As a way of encouraging Nigerian working class mothers to practice the compulsory six months of exclusive breastfeeding, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole said government is working on a blueprint that would extend the maternity leave of women from their various places of work from four months to six months.

Adewole made this known in Abuja during an event to mark the 2018 World Breastfeeding week with the theme : Breastfeeding: Foundation of life.

He stressed that because of the importance of exclusive breastfeeding to the infant, it is the duty of the government to promote, protect and support breastfeeding as part of their obligations to citizen under the UN convention on the Right of Child to help ensure Children’s right to health.

The minister called on men to join in the exclusive breastfeeding initiative by supporting, protecting and ençouraging their wives to give breast milk to babies.

Also, the Minister of State for Budget and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said seven million children are born every year in Nigeria and 25% are exclusively breastfed.

She said that government has embarked on numerous programme to advocate for breastfeeding.

We need to harmonize our effort so that we can achieve better result and meet the target by 2020.

Also, the Deputy Representative, UNICEF Nigeria, Pernille Ironside said the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, will continue to advocate for the benefits of breastfeeding and for the women to get enough information, advise and support that they need to breastfeed a child.

Ironside gave the promised that UNICEF will continue to sustain its partnership with the Nigerian government in the interest of child survival and early child development linking closely to the global campaign on every child and early moment matters.

The UNICEF Director in Nigeria also said that sadly, seven out every ten children between the ages of zero to six months are not exclusively breastfed.

•Culled from Nigerian Pilot report