By Stella Omona
As parts of efforts to bond new born babies with their fathers, the Federal Government has approved the commencement of 14-working-day paternity leave for federal civil servants.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, disclosed this on Monday in a circular with ref no: HCSF/SPSO/ODD/NCE/RR/650309/3, dated 25th November, 2022.
The circular titled, ‘Computation of Leave Based on Working Days and Approval of Paternity Leave in the Public Service’, said that the approval is in line with the provisions of the Public Service Rules, 2021 Edition, that the computation of all leave shall be based on working days.
“Government has also approved Paternity Leave for serving male officers whose spouse delivers a baby. The period of the leave shall be fourteen working days. The leave shall not be more than once in two years, and a for maximum of four children.
“Where the family of a male officer adopts a child under four months old, the officer will similarly enjoy Paternity Leave for a period of fourteen working days,” Yemi-Esan explained.
According to her, request for such leave shall be accompanied by the Expected Date of Delivery’s (EDD) report of the officer’s wife or evidence of approval of the adoption of the child by the relevant government bodies.
Yemi-Esan noted that the effective date of the circular is 25th November, 2022.”
Already, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in September 2022, had approved a 14-day paternity leave for men in the federal civil service, to help them bond with their newborn babies or adopted ones.
“We’ve also gotten approval to include paternity leave. This is something that is new. And this is something that the unions in the service asked that we include, and luckily, we’ve been able to include it.
“We’ve also been able to ensure that leave now is calculated based on working days, not on calendar days, that also has been approved. We also have introduced the transition from paper service to a digital service.” Yemi-Esan had stated.
