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For women returning to work after childbirth, maternity leave can determine whether they have the time to recover, establish breastfeeding and care for a newborn without being forced to choose between their health and their jobs.
In Zamfara State, female civil servants are set to receive six months of maternity leave following an approval by the state government. The Zamfara State Head of Service, Yakubu Haidara, announced the decision in Gusau during a visit by the Civil Society–Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), a coalition that works to improve nutrition policies and programmes across the country.
According to Haidara, the approval is intended to support exclusive breastfeeding and improve maternal and child health outcomes in the state. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life. But for many working mothers, that recommendation can be difficult to follow when workplace policies require them to return to work shortly after childbirth.
A six-month leave period could give women in Zamfara’s civil service more time to recover from delivery, care for their babies and breastfeed without the immediate pressure of resuming work.
CS-SUNN had advocated for the adoption of a six-month maternity leave policy, while also calling on the state government to strengthen funding and accountability for nutrition programmes. During the visit, the organisation reportedly commended Zamfara for releasing ₦500 million in nutrition counterpart funding for 2025. It also urged the state to improve budget tracking and sustain investment in programmes addressing malnutrition among women and children.
The approval is a notable development for women employed in the state’s public service. However, important details have not yet been made public, including when the policy will take effect, whether it will be backed by a formal circular, who exactly will qualify and whether the leave will be fully paid. Those details matter.
A maternity leave policy is only as useful as its implementation, especially for women who may be concerned about salary continuity and how easily they can access the leave in practice. The development also addresses the uneven nature of maternity protection in Nigeria. While the Nigerian Labour Act provides a minimum of 12 weeks ( 3 months ) of maternity leave for many workers, maternity protections are not uniform across Nigeria. Some public institutions and state governments have introduced longer leave periods, while many women, particularly in private employment, still return to work after the statutory three months. Zamfara’s six month policy marks a shift towards longer maternity protection for women in the state’s public service.
