Present at birth, absent by policy: Inside Nigeria’s parental leave challenge

When Akaninyene Akpan’s wife was wheeled into surgery in Abuja, another man stood beside her.

It was not because Mr Akpan had abandoned his family. It was because he was hundreds of kilometres away in Lagos, unable to obtain paternity leave from his employer.

His wife had developed complications during labour and eventually delivered through a caesarean section. While her uncle accompanied her to the hospital, Mr Akpan, a teacher and football coach, could only send money from afar.

“People would think he was the husband, while all I could do was send money. My child was first held by another man,” he recounted.

For Mr Akpan, the birth of his first child should have marked the beginning of fatherhood. Instead, it became a lesson in how little room Nigeria’s labour system leaves for fathers when families need them most.

In the days after the surgery, Mrs Akpan returned home to recover without her husband by her side.

Women recovering from caesarean deliveries are often advised to avoid strenuous activity. Mr Akpan recalled how his wife nearly slipped in the bathroom while trying to clean because she could not properly bend following the operation.

Unable to secure leave or any form of work flexibility, he eventually resigned from his job after completing his school’s inter-house sports competition for the term.

The decision plunged the family into fresh uncertainty.

Without an income, he still had to pay bills, provide for a newborn and search for another job. By the time he relocated to Abuja, it took almost a full school term for him to find new employment.

Yet the emotional consequences lingered longer than the financial strain.

Months later, he noticed that his child appeared more attached to the man who stepped into the role he could not fill during those crucial early weeks.

“Any day my wife’s uncle steps into the house, my child runs to him immediately,” he said.

Today, he lives with his family and has returned to work. But he still remembers the moments he missed.

For him, the cost of Nigeria’s parental leave gap was not measured only in a resignation letter or months without income. It was measured by his absence in the first days of his child’s life — days that can never be recovered.

His experience reflects a largely overlooked consequence of Nigeria’s parental leave gap. When fathers are absent due to policy, the effects are often felt by mothers, newborns, and entire families.

Discussions about parental leave in Nigeria are often framed as labour rights or workplace welfare issues.

But health experts say the consequences extend far beyond that. The weeks immediately following childbirth are among the most critical periods for both mothers and newborns.

Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nearly half of all deaths among children under five occur during the first 28 days of life. The period also carries significant health risks for mothers, particularly in countries with high maternal mortality burdens like Nigeria.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria accounts for one of the highest numbers of maternal and newborn deaths globally. The country is responsible for roughly 28 per cent of maternal deaths worldwide, making it one of the largest contributors to global maternal mortality.

This translates to more than 75,000 women dying each year from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications, equivalent to one maternal death every seven minutes.

Nigeria also records some of the highest rates of newborn and under-five mortality in the world. An estimated 262,000 babies die at birth annually, while hundreds of thousands of children die before reaching their fifth birthday.

Against that backdrop, experts say support during the postnatal period becomes not merely desirable but essential.

Yet Nigeria’s policy framework offers limited support.

The country currently provides 12 weeks of maternity leave to many workers in the formal sector, falling below the International Labour Organisation’s minimum recommendation of 14 weeks.

More significantly, Nigeria lacks a universally applied national paternity leave policy that covers both the public and private sectors, a gap highlighted in international assessments.

Eligible workers are entitled to at least 50 per cent of their wages during the leave if they have met the qualifying conditions under the law.

However, the Act makes no provision for statutory paternity leave, leaving private-sector employers to decide whether to offer fathers paid time off following the birth of a child. As a result, access to paternity leave varies widely across employers, while many workers receive no entitlement at all.

In the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law report, Nigeria scored zero out of 100 for supportive parenthood laws, reflecting the absence of comprehensive legal protections for parental leave and caregiving responsibilities.

For maternal health experts, these policy shortcomings have direct implications for recovery after childbirth.

Halimat Jimoh, a nurse, professional midwife and maternal and child health advocate, said postnatal recovery extends far beyond what happens in hospitals.

While mothers receive medical attention during childbirth, she said the conditions they return to at home often determine how well they recover.

According to her, fathers frequently serve as a mother’s primary support system during the immediate postnatal period by helping with newborn care, household responsibilities and emotional support.

Their involvement, she explained, can reduce stress, allow mothers to rest adequately and ease the transition into caring for a newborn.

Ms Jimoh said mothers who receive consistent support from their partners are often more confident in establishing breastfeeding and better able to cope with the physical and emotional demands of recovery.

Research supports these observations.

According to the WHO, each additional month of paid maternity leave is associated with approximately eight fewer infant deaths per 1,000 births.

WHO also reports that a one-month increase in legislated paid maternity leave is linked to a 5.9 per cent increase in exclusive breastfeeding rates.

For countries struggling with maternal and newborn health outcomes, those improvements can be significant.

Ms Jimoh said many Nigerian mothers return home to what she described as minimal structured support, forcing them to balance physical recovery, childcare and household responsibilities simultaneously.

The result is often fatigue, sleep deprivation, delayed recovery and increased emotional strain, particularly among first-time mothers.

She argued that postnatal care policies should move beyond focusing exclusively on mothers and adopt a family-centred approach that deliberately includes fathers in counselling, discharge planning and postnatal support.