TheCable

The federal government has approved paternity leave for male staff of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, disclosed this on Tuesday at the unveiling and presentation of NITDA’s Employee-Centric Condition and Scheme of Service in Abuja.

The minister said the development is part of the new scheme of service for staff of the agency.

Female employees in private and public sectors are entitled to three months of maternity leave when they give birth but there is currently no such provision for their male counterparts.

However, Lagos, Oyo and Enugu are among the few states in the country that have legal backing for such leave, with some giving as much as 21 days.

In May 2018, the house of representatives rejected a bill seeking to grant leave to married men in the advent of childbirth by their wives.

Speaking on Tuesday, Pantami said it took about five years to complete the document which he said “presents a holistic approach to the development of the agency on one hand and the employees on the other”.

“Key areas include the introduction of paternity and compassionate leave, transfer benefits and staff homeownership loan, among others,” he said.

The minister said the condition of service is to re-engineer the operations and structure of NITDA with the aim of providing an enabling environment for effective strategy development and execution.

“This will match the global industry requirements that are needed to develop and regulate the innovative and agile digital economy industry,” he said.