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.
Beyond a workplace issue
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.
Recovery does not end at discharge
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.
“Postnatal health outcomes are shaped not only by what happens in the health facility, but also by the support system in the home environment,” she said.
While experts say support at home is critical to postnatal recovery, mothers who have experienced the period first-hand say the reality often extends beyond the physical healing that takes place after childbirth.
When PREMIUM TIMES spoke with Maryam Olaniyi, an entrepreneur, she described the weeks after giving birth as one of the most exhausting periods of her life.
Like many first-time mothers, she struggled to adjust to the demands of caring for a newborn while recovering from childbirth.
Frequent breastfeeding left her severely sleep-deprived, and she often found herself balancing childcare with household responsibilities despite still recovering physically.
Although her husband was granted two weeks of paternity leave, Ms Olaniyi said the time passed far too quickly.
During those first days, he, alongside her aunt and sisters, helped care for both her and the baby, allowing her to occasionally express breast milk so they could assist with night feeds and give her a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
She also told PREMIUM TIMES that losing her mother before childbirth made the experience even more difficult, saying she deeply felt the absence of the guidance and reassurance that many women receive from their mothers during the postpartum period.
After her relatives left following the baby’s naming ceremony, the responsibility largely fell on her and her husband until he resumed work. She said his presence became particularly important during an emergency when their baby choked on expressed breast milk. Because he was at home, they were able to respond immediately and rush the baby to the hospital, though the child had already recovered by the time they arrived.
Once he returned to work, Ms Olaniyi said she had to manage alone during the day, caring for the baby, cooking, cleaning and trying to recover from childbirth with little opportunity to rest. The persistent sleep deprivation and physical demands left her mentally and emotionally drained.
“If my husband had been able to stay home longer, I believe my postpartum experience would have been much easier and happier,” she said.
She said a longer period of paternity leave would have reduced her stress, improved her recovery and allowed both parents to adjust more confidently to caring for their newborn.
Beyond helping mothers recover physically, she believes fathers who are present in the early weeks also provide emotional reassurance, strengthen the bond with their children and help families navigate emergencies.
Drawing from her experience, Ms Olaniyi said new mothers in Nigeria need more than medical care after delivery. They also require practical help with childcare and household responsibilities, emotional encouragement from their partners, adequate rest, access to healthcare and greater awareness of postpartum mental health.
A problem affecting both formal and informal workers
The challenges are not limited to workers in formal employment.
For Joshua Anumata, the birth of his child in June 2024 brought immense joy but also difficult financial choices.
His wife suffered complications after delivery and required repeated stitching.
“There was no one to help her,” he said.
As a self-employed businessman supplying materials and accessories for bag production, Mr Anumata had greater freedom to step away from work than many salaried workers did.
He spent time helping his wife recover and caring for their newborn. However, every day spent at home meant lost income.
“We made a lot of expenses, but no income was coming in,” he said.
Like Mr Akpan, he believes fathers should have greater support during the postnatal period.
He described the early weeks after childbirth as an important period for bonding, learning and providing practical support to both mother and child.
His experience reflects a wider reality: regardless of employment status, many Nigerian fathers struggle to balance caregiving responsibilities with economic survival.
The invisible burden on women
The absence of adequate parental leave policies also carries consequences for women.
According to a 2025 report by NarratEQ, cited by TheCable, if women’s unpaid care work were assigned a monetary value, it would account for between 10 and 39 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), amounting to as much as $111 billion annually.
The finding highlights how much of the country’s caregiving responsibilities remain invisible and uncompensated.
Experts say parental leave policies can help redistribute some of that burden.
Evidence reviewed by UNICEF suggests that family-friendly leave policies help narrow gender earnings gaps and improve women’s participation in the workforce.
The economic implications are also substantial.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria could increase earnings by up to $23 billion by closing gender gaps across key economic sectors.
UN Women has similarly argued that investing just two per cent of an economy’s GDP in care services can generate up to three times that amount in economic growth through increased labour force participation and productivity.
For employers, parental leave can also make financial sense.
Studies show that replacing an employee can cost between 24 and 150 per cent of that worker’s annual salary. Supportive leave policies, advocates argue, improve retention and reduce turnover costs while strengthening employee wellbeing.
Why reform has been slow
Despite growing evidence supporting parental leave, implementation remains limited.
The Executive Secretary of Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR), Ekimini Akpanpa, said the challenge is partly rooted in the structure of Nigeria’s labour market.
Paternity leave, she noted, remains largely confined to segments of the formal public sector where the government exercises greater oversight.
Meanwhile, a large proportion of Nigerians work in informal businesses, contract arrangements and self-employment, where structured human resource policies are often absent.
Even within organised private-sector institutions, many employers continue to view paternity leave as optional rather than essential.
The result, she said, is that millions of families remain excluded from policies designed to support shared caregiving, work-life balance and early child development.
This, in turn, reinforces gender inequality by concentrating caregiving responsibilities on women, often at the expense of their career progression and economic participation.
Lessons from elsewhere
Several African countries have moved further than Nigeria in expanding parental leave protections.
Kenya provides 90 days of paid maternity leave and 14 days of paid paternity leave.
South Africa operates a shared parental leave framework that allows parents to share caregiving responsibilities. Similarly, Ethiopia has expanded maternity leave to 120 days, while Gambia provides a paid six-month maternity leave.
Within Nigeria itself, examples of stronger protections already exist.
Lagos and Enugu states have introduced six months of paid maternity leave for certain categories of workers, while the Federal Capital Territory provides 16 weeks of maternity leave alongside limited paternity leave.
For policy experts, these examples demonstrate that stronger parental leave policies are achievable.
Rethinking parental leave
The Lead, Policy, Governance and Advocacy Practice at Gatefield, Shirley Ewang, believes Nigeria urgently needs a clear and enforceable national parental leave framework that covers both the public and private sectors.
At a minimum, she argues, the country should guarantee 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave and at least 14 days of paid paternity leave.
According to her, the current system does not reflect the realities of modern family life.
Instead, it creates an imbalance from the moment a child is born, leaving mothers to shoulder most caregiving responsibilities while fathers are often expected to return to work almost immediately.
The consequences extend beyond households.
Evidence from UNICEF links adequate parental leave to improved maternal and child health outcomes, stronger workforce participation, greater employee retention and more balanced caregiving responsibilities.
PREMIUM TIMES contacted the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to seek its position on Nigeria’s parental leave framework, including whether the ministry is considering reforms to existing maternity and paternity leave policies.
Messages requesting an interview were sent to the ministry’s spokesperson, Anne Daniel, but no response had been received as of the time of this report.
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Workplace view
While advocates argue that stronger parental leave policies would benefit families, employers say expanding paternity leave involves balancing employee welfare with operational realities.
When PREMIUM TIMES spoke with Sandra Nwalutu, Head of Human Resources, IT and Administration at FGN Power Company and a licensed member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), she said organisations often design paternity leave differently from maternity leave because the two serve different purposes.
She explained that maternity leave primarily allows mothers to recover from childbirth while caring for a newborn who depends almost entirely on them during the early weeks of life.
Fathers, by contrast, are generally expected to support their partners, bond with the baby and help manage household responsibilities, which partly explains why employers tend to provide shorter periods of leave.
Ms Nwalutu said her organisation currently grants five working days of paid paternity leave, a policy developed after benchmarking against organisations with similar operational structures.
She noted that many employers, particularly those with lean workforces, view between two and 10 working days as a practical range that allows employees to support their families while limiting disruption to business operations.
According to her, employers weigh several factors when determining paternity leave policies, including workforce size, financial costs, staffing levels and the availability of family support systems such as grandparents, relatives or paid caregivers.
Many organisations also benchmark against existing labour laws and industry practice while considering their own operational needs.
She acknowledged that business continuity remains one of employers’ biggest concerns, particularly for small and medium-sized organisations where specialised roles can be difficult to cover during prolonged absences. Extending paid leave may also increase costs through overtime payments, workload redistribution or temporary staffing arrangements.
However, Ms Nwalutu said these concerns should be balanced against the long-term benefits of family-friendly workplace policies.
“Employees who feel supported during major life events tend to be more engaged, more loyal to the organisation and are more likely to stay with the employer,” she said.
She added that research and workplace experience suggest fathers who take paternity leave are more likely to remain actively involved in childcare long after returning to work, easing the caregiving burden on mothers and improving outcomes for families.
Although Nigeria has no uniform statutory paternity leave policy, Ms Nwalutu believes employers are gradually becoming more intentional about employee wellbeing, with some organisations introducing paternity leave or reviewing existing policies as expectations around shared parenting continue to evolve.
Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, she argued that Nigeria should establish clearer national minimum standards while allowing organisations flexibility to design policies that reflect their operational realities.
She also suggested that employers complement parental leave with measures such as flexible work arrangements, hybrid work where feasible, employee assistance programmes and stronger succession planning to better support working parents.
