In Nigeria, the joyous occasion of a child's birth, typically marked by prayers, communal celebration, and immense pride, often concludes abruptly for fathers. By the very next morning, many Nigerian fathers are compelled to resume work as usual, without the luxury of a structured pause for adjustment or protected time for bonding with their newborn. There is a pervasive absence of expectation for men to be present during the earliest days of their child’s life, leading to a false trade-off between economic survival and active participation in their child’s most formative initial period.

This systemic issue stems directly from the Nigerian Labour Act, which notably does not guarantee paternity leave. Through this omission, the Act implicitly assumes that early childcare falls outside the scope of a father’s role. Consequently, fathers are legally excluded from the earliest stages of caregiving, normalizing their absence and reducing the concept of fatherhood primarily to financial provision. This framework has demonstrably negative outcomes, with evidence from longitudinal cohort studies in early childhood development indicating that a father’s active involvement in the first six months of a child’s life is linked to measurable improvements in cognitive and socio-emotional development later in early childhood. Children whose fathers are highly involved tend to achieve higher scores on standardized cognitive and learning assessments during their early developmental stages, compared to peers with low paternal engagement.

While federal policy currently grants 14 days of paternity leave exclusively to civil servants, the vast majority of Nigerian men employed in the private sector and informal economy are afforded no legal right to time off when a child is born. These fathers are left entirely at the discretion of their employers, with most being forced to return to work almost immediately after childbirth. This creates a far-reaching ripple effect, impacting both men and women across society. Nigeria, through its current labour system, is effectively imposing a ‘tax’ on women for the biological and social costs of childbirth, while simultaneously failing to acknowledge the broader economic burden of unpaid care work, which women disproportionately bear.

The cumulative consequence of these policies includes exhausted mothers, absent fathers, and children entering their earliest months without the comprehensive support systems that robust evidence indicates they require. This deficiency is already incurring significant costs for Nigeria, manifested in reduced female workforce participation, avoidable health strains, and long-term developmental losses absorbed by individual families and the state itself. To address these critical issues, Nigeria must implement policy reforms that introduce at least 14 days of fully paid paternity leave across both public and private sectors. This must be complemented by a minimum standard of 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave for mothers.

As articulated by Jude Oseh, an advocate for inclusive growth and women’s leadership, and the Founder of The Innovation Centre for Inclusive Growth, a society that professes to value families cannot sustain a labour system that structurally removes fathers from the foundational aspects of family life. Such a system also denies children the full support systems they inherently deserve for optimal early childcare. Oseh’s advocacy, which consistently supports efforts to advance women’s participation in leadership and governance, including the 35% affirmative action framework and the Reserved Seat for Women Bill, underscores the broader need for policies that foster equitable and supportive family environments.