Rivers State Government on Tuesday commissioned a workplace crèche for nursing working mothers in the civil service.

Located at the right wing, ground floor of the Podium Block, State Secretariat complex, Port Harcourt, the crèche is powered by the State Ministry of Women Affairs as part of her missions to mobilise resources to improve the lives of Rivers women and girls and also empower them to be productive and self-reliant.

According to the Commissioner for  Women Affairs, Mrs Joeba West, it is established to cushion the challenges faced by nursing  mothers by providing adequate care for babies during working hours especially for public servants within the state secretariat complex.

Describing the facility as a “home at workplace for babies and toddlers,” the commissioner said it offers solid educational and recreational activities for babies and toddlers with well trained minders, teachers and a certified and experienced nurse to at tend to the children.

The crèche she explained which will admit children from the ages of two months to two years, is segmented into reception/ waiting room, playroom, classroom, feeding room, sleeping room, kitchenette, laundry, bath/rest room, staff room and a store, furnished with modern equipments and child-friendly products for the safety  of the children.

The health and hygiene of the children are also considered paramount as the area is exclusively and properly sanitised with harmless products.

In the words of the former Head of Service, Mrs Esther Anucha, the establishment of a crèche of such status is a life made easy for nursing mothers in the Secretariat Complex as it would afford them a relaxable atmosphere to work knowing that their babies are in  safe hands.

Hence, if the women of the state will avail themselves the opportunity provided them by the provision of the crèche, there will be no regrets whatsoever.

For once, they will be productive in their service to the State as well as efficient.

It is no gainsaying the fact that one of the things that easily get women distracted in their job and make them less concentrated and devoted is the thought of their babies in the hand of total strangers, or distance away from them. Those who try taking their babies along to work, end up not doing the work at all.

Perhaps, it is for this reason that the incumbent Head of Service,   Barr. Samuel T. LongJohn, said that the introduction of the workplace crèche is a burden off the shoulders of working mothers.

Therefore, the gains of this all-important facility is quite enormous as it is not only welcomed by the women, but children also as well as the government.

The woman though may appear to be the major beneficiary, perhaps for the sole reason that it encourages exclusive breast-feeding because of its baby-friendly posture. The woman is relaxed while breast feeding because of the privacy she enjoys in the crèche. The baby also bids farewell to exhaustion due largely to long time crying for want of breast milk from a mother who had gone to work and is probably cut up in a traffic jam.

Obviously, it is “farewell” to anxiety that literally consumes the woman who is lost in thought and contemplations of what the state of her baby would look like because of a long period of separation resulting in unnecessary enlargement of the breast to her discomfort.

Bonding no doubt, is reignited. Call it another victory for the child, the workplace crèche does not only provide a conducive atmosphere for bonding between mothers and their babies, it also provides a resort for early and sound child development and education.

To the government of Rivers State, it is congratulations for a recovery of a workforce whose total devotion it had hitherto, not fully enjoyed perhaps because of  divided attention.

With the crèche in place, it is expected that working nursing mothers would justify the money spent in paying their salaries by putting in adequate man power and quality time in the discharge of their duty.

Meanwhile, some mothers in the civil service have expressed great delight in the gesture and to them, it is a worthwhile venture. For Mrs Akujuru Grace, a nurse, “the gesture is purely for me. I had my baby when I was not yet due annual or maternity leave and I was compelled to resume work immediately after delivery or risk my employment. My first baby for that matter, I was leaving him at the mercy of my mother-in law from morning till evening everyday, a baby of less than one week. At least, with this development it will be easier, you take baby along and still do your work perfectly.”

“One thing I cherish in this crèche so much is the inclusion of early education which means I am not only taking my baby along to work, I am also enrolling him in a school,” Mrs Wodi Caroline said.”

Against the backdrop of building structures that are never utilized for an eventual realization of purpose, the honourable commissioner for Women Affairs Mrs Joeba West appealed to mothers to avail themselves the privilege made available by this provision, so as to actualize the reason behind its establishment .

She also reaffirms her resolve to ensure a maintenance culture and avoidance of early decay of the structures as is sometimes the case with public establishments. She maintains that while it is the part of the government  to provide infrastructural facilities, it remains the duty of the public to patronize same in utmost good faith. She remarked that the services are free except with token registration meanwhile more space has been acquired for possible expansion so as to accommodate more children.

It will be recalled that the workplace crèche donated by the Ministry of Women Affairs is the second state government’s crèche after the one donated  by the Ministry of Commerce and industry.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi