Follow Us on Google
Bimbola Oyesola
The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Network of Women Entrepreneurs (NNEW), in partnership with Alive & Thrive, is pushing for a policy that will boost women’s productivity through effective of breastfeeding in the workplace.
The two, in a project funded by Bill and Melinda Gates and managed by FHI 360 are spearheading the campaign for establishment of lactation centres in companies to enable nursing mothers get closer to their babies in the first six months.
The campaign is also to discourage the situation whereby companies lose their female best hands in the child-bearing age as most of them are unable to cope after childbirth.
The groups started the campaign last week Thursday with visit to three organisations, NECA, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) and Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
At NECA, the president of NNEW, Mrs. Module Oyekunle, noted that the project was pushing for exclusive breastfeeding for six months, adding that if that must work, there is need for a policy to support it.
She said NNEW decided to support the project because of the benefits it would foster on the family as well as the nation in general.
She reasoned that a well breastfeed child would grow up healthy and intelligent which overall would advance the nation economically.
She said, “It is a good initiative by NNEW under NECA’s umbrella. Babies that are well fed grow up to be healthy adults. Breastfeeding babies helps nation in the future, the country will not have people coming down with health problem.
“A look at our fathers shows that they are quite intelligent as they were properly breastfed as babies.”
She explained that NNEW decided to visit the three organisations due to their membership strength and their ability to influence their members positively towards supporting the project.
The NECA and LCCI, she stated has over 500 corporate organisations as members, while the CIPM is the umbrella body of all the Human Resources personnel who take decision on staff issues.
“We also believe that this project will help corporate organisations retain their best female hands who may be happy to return to work, unlike what we experience now that most of them don’t return as they prefer to stay back and nurse their babies”, she added.
Elaborating on the project, Dr. Uche Ralph-Opara, Associate Director/State team lead for Alive & Thrive, Lagos State said the present maternity policy of three months did not support the project ideal, as working nursing mothers would have to return to work after the expiration of the leave.
According to her only Lagos State has six months maternity leave, but she said this is only for civil servants.
She expressed that the Organization recognized the need to protect the jobs of women within child bearing age, hence the call for organisations to have a lactating centres where mothers could breastfeed their babies during office hours.
“Studies have shown that working women who have their babies around the vicinity where they are working improve on their productivity. That is if they can bring their babies with them after the three months of maternity leave,” she said.
She said that Nigeria was not doing well as a country in relation to providing bonding for mother and child at work, noting that only a few organisations have cretches.
Opara stated that only 9 per cent of organisations had a workplace breastfeeding policy: only 1.5 per cent of public sector organisations provide cretches or daycare, even though 100 percent of organisations were supportive of implementing breastfeeding friendly workplace programmes.
She said breastfeeding over time has been proved to be one of the most cost effective and impactful interventions for reducing malnutrition and under-five mortality – both of which are high in Nigeria.
On the economic growth of the nation, she said, “Breastfeeding has implications not only for the health of children, but also for Nigeria’s economy. Low breastfeeding rates are associated with poor brain development at the individual level, which reduces learning ability, productivity, and lifetime earnings. At the societal level, this leads to a loss of Gross National Income (GNI) estimated at 0.06 percent, or $150 million (USD) annually.”
She called on NECA to lead the campaign by providing facilities that three of such lactating and well fed centres could be located.
Director-eneral of NECA, Mr. Timothy Olawale, said the association was well disposed towards the project.
He recalled that the initiator of the project, Alive & Thrive initially approached NECA, but handed them over to NNEW, the association women’s wing because of the gender aspect.
He said, “We are in support of the programme totally. We know the importance of breastfeeding, the health benefits, hence we will encourage our members. We will use some of our members companies who believe that three months is not enough to propagate the project. We will use some of our members that have cretches to encourage others.”
In his own view, the acting registrar of CIPM, Dr. Olayiwola Oladapo, assured the groups that the organisation would give them all the support required to make it a success as it qwas all about improving productivity in the workplace.
In the same vein, the director-general of the LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, said NNEW could count on the chamber as a leading BMO to get the support of all their members operating in the private sector of the economy.
He said, “This kind of policy is what women should be championing. This is all about improving productivity and the economy will also be the best for it.”
We would not mind if one of such centres can be opened here. The LCCI will give you all the necessary support required in the area of advocacy.”
