FG Approves 14-day Paternity Leave For Civil Servants

365news gathered that The start of a 14-working-day paternity leave for federal civil personnel has been authorized by the federal government.

The Federation’s Head of Civil Service, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, made this announcement on Monday in a circular with the reference number HCSF/SPSO/ODD/NCE/RR/650309/3, dated November 25, 2022.

The circular titled, ‘Computation of Leave Based on Working Days and Approval of Paternity Leave in the Public Service’, said that this was in line with the provisions of the Public Service Rules, 2021 Edition.

“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 said.

According to her, a request for such leave must be accompanied by the officer’s wife’s expected date of delivery report or proof that the appropriate government agencies have approved the child’s adoption.

According to The PUNCH, the Federal Executive Council approved a 14-day paternity leave in September of this year for men working for the federal government in order to help them bond with their newborn or adopted child.

In order to help the newborn or adopted child properly bond with the father in the early stages, she said that bonding was crucial.

“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. So these are some of the new things that are in the new PSR that has just been approved by the federal executive council,” she said.