By Justina Auta
Dr Aisha Buhari, Wife of the President, has called on stakeholders to enhance their work environment by providing child support service and establish day care centres to boost women’s productivity in the work place.
Mrs Buhari made this known on Thursday at the Re-commissioning of the Dr Aisha Buhari National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) Day Care Centre in Abuja.
Mrs Buhari, represented by Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, Wife of the Vice President, stressed the importance of day care services to the empowerment of women.
She said it improved access to affordable day care services and reduced the barriers to women’s full participation in the labour force.
“The provision of affordable and reliable day care services is a potential and important policy step for empowering women and generating economic opportunities for them.
“It promotes nutrition and learning among children,” she said.
Also, Mrs Pauline Tallen, The Minister of Women Affairs, said the practice of establishing day care centres in work places fostered the health and development of the entire work force
Tallen, therefore, called on men to support and encourage their wives to adopt exclusive breastfeeding practices for the growth and development of their babies.
“I call on organisations to ensure that they establish day care centres and creches to support women breastfeed their children while at work.
“These children are the future hopes of our dear country; we cannot afford to leave them at home and not give them the necessary attention they deserve,” she said.
On her part, Dr Asabe Vilita-Bashir, Director-General, NCWD, said the day care centre services would be a home away from home for children as it would provide social services for working mothers.
Vilita-Bashir also said location of the day care centre was strategic as it would provide easy access to mothers to engage in exclusive breast feeding as well as serve as a training ground for pre-schooling for the children.”
She noted the strategic importance of the day care centre in providing an opportunity for improving women’s employability, empowerment and well-being in enhancing their contributions to national and child development.
According to her, the centre will also serve as a training ground for pre-schooling of the children, using the curriculum of early childhood education from three months to three years, with a ratio of four children to one caregiver.
“It also provides an opportunity for detecting the learning needs, handicap, giftedness and health needs of the children,” she said.
