Nigerian govt to capture paternity leave for civil servants in 2022 budget

In order to ensure equity across gender lines, the Federal Government has pledged to entrench paternity leave into the 2022 budget.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen on Tuesday.

She spoke on the sideline of the ongoing 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at UN headquarters in New York.

In response to budgeting to address Gender Based Violence (GBV), the minister said the 2022 budget had been designed to be gender-responsive as Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had been mandated to factor in gender issues in their budget preparation.

“What this means is that the recently approved paternity leave for civil servants will be captured in the 2022 budget among other gender-responsive issues the MDAs will consider to include in the budget.

“In past budgets, travel and training provisions capture more men than women also most MDAs do have crèche for nursing mothers who are expected to resume work while tending to their infants.

“This is also the first in our history, where MDAs were clearly advised on gender-responsive budgeting.

“It is hoped that this decision by the President will form part of critical steps in our efforts to distribute resources fairly and reach vulnerable groups of our society,” she said.

Tallen further said the Federal Government has gone tough on sexual offenders by convicting 110 offenders.

Also, the implementation of the Sex Offender Register was aimed to protect girls and women from sexual abuse in Nigeria.

Read also: Bill seeking amendment of 2022 budget scales second reading in Senate

“As of February, Nigeria has recorded 646 cases reported, 110 convicted and 327 cases are still in Court.

“The violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, provides that a register of convicted sexual offenders shall be maintained and accessible to the public.

“The implication of this is that individuals are able to know just who they interact and associate with,’’ she said.

According to her, the Sex Offenders Register is domiciled with the National Agency for the Prohibition in Persons (NAPTIP) and there are two other sexual offenders register in Lagos and Ekiti.

“Any organisation that needs it will need to inform NAPTIP by writing for background check on the employee.

”Some organisations may also want to know if there are reported cases of sexual offences against a person even if the person has not been convicted to help the organisation take an informed decision,’ she said.

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