No country desirous of productivity can afford to deliberately put her people out of work in the name of religious ceremonies as Nigeria does. The idea of unending public holidays is not only absurd but also sickening.
The idea of this week’s column is not original. Neither is the title. Both came from two senior citizens who are not only fans of TheNiche but also religiously comment on almost every story we publish.
Expectedly, our story on Monday, Eid-el-Kabir: FG declares Wednesday, Thursday public holidays, caught their attention. One of them, an elder stateswoman and retired Federal Permanent Secretary, exclaimed: “Very convenient! So they can take off from Tuesday to Friday. Unserious, unproductive country.”
I was still pondering over that when the elder statesman, a retired boardroom guru, sent a cryptic riposte: “Useless country.”
Then, he followed it up with another text: “12 Christians, 12 Muslims, State fights to get 12. 36 no work days. Plus 52×2 – 104 Saturdays and Sundays – almost 140 days of no work in a wretched country that is the poverty capital of the world. Idiotic!”
That may be an exaggeration but it is close to reality because when it comes to no work days, Nigeria only competes with such countries as Myanmar, Nepal, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia.
That is not a good company to keep for a country with 63 per cent of its population (133 million people) multi-dimensionally poor and 41 per cent unemployed.
The tragi-comedy has been made worse by the supremacy battle of the two dominant religions – Christianity and Islam – none of which is indigenous.
But as bad as this picture is, it is not even the full story. In most Muslim-dominated states, Fridays have equally been appropriated as part of the weekend work-free days. Where it is not expressly so, workers at best work half-day, leaving for home after the Jumu’ah Prayer (Friday prayer).
And true to prediction, Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State, on Tuesday, extended the Eid-el-Kabir holiday to Friday. A statement by his head of service, Alhaji Hussaini Ali Kila, said: “The Jigawa State Government has declared Friday, June 30, 2023 work free day in commemoration of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration.”
In neighbouring Katsina, one of the most educationally backward states in Nigeria, Governor Dikko Umar Radda declared a one-week holiday for primary and secondary school students for the Sallah celebration. In Kano, the Education Ministry announced a Sallah break for all day and boarding public/private primary and post-primary schools in the state, commencing Friday, June 23.
Truth be told, even in those states where no public announcements were made, particularly in the North, the working week ended Tuesday. It will even be a struggle to drag some back to work on Monday.
When these ceremonies fall on weekends, the nearest weekday is quickly appropriated as a public holiday. Since it has become a convention that a minimum of two days must be used in celebration, if the ceremonies fall on a Saturday and Sunday, then Monday and Tuesday are sacrificed on the country’s hedonistic altar.
For instance, many of the public holidays that fell on weekends in 2022 were celebrated on weekdays. New Year Day, January 1, was a Saturday but January 3, was declared New Year Day holiday; May 1, a Sunday was Labour Day but May 2 – Monday – was Labour Day holiday; June 12 – Sunday – was Democracy Day but June 13 – Monday – became Democracy Day holiday; Sunday, July 10 and Monday, July 11 were days for the 2022 Eid-el-Kabir but the holiday was extended to Tuesday, July 12; the holiday for October 1, which fell on a Saturday was celebrated on Monday, October 3; October 8, 2022 was the date for Id el Maulud but because that was a Saturday, Monday, October 10 was declared a holiday; and Christmas Day in 2022 fell on a Sunday and Tuesday, December 27 became Christmas Day holiday.
This is ridiculous particularly against the backdrop that on public holidays major economic activities are automatically shut down – all financial institutions, schools, and government offices go on break.
The bigger tragedy is that even as many think that we already have too many work-free days in a country where, ideally, every hour of the 365 days in a year ought to be maximally utilized in productive ventures, some are still clamouring for more.
The ultra-conservative Muslim Ummah are still agitating that the beginning of the Islamic year be declared a public holiday insisting that the Gregorian calendar is a Christian creation. Thus, July 19, 2023, which is the Gregorian date for 1445 AH, the beginning of the 2023 Islamic year should be declared a public holiday. To be sure, some states had already started observing it as a work-free day. Sooner than later, it will become a national holiday.
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It is even worse every election year. In an era when you can hardly know that elections are being held in some countries, including here in Africa, Nigeria is entirely shut down on election days. Many state governors declared work free days to enable residents register for the 2023 elections and to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), in an election Prof Mahmoud Yakubu-led Independent National Election Commission (INEC) disingenuously rigged beforehand.
Then, throw into the mix the fact that non-state actors like the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the last two years declared every Monday a work-free day in the Southeast, then the absurdity of the problem stares you in the face.
Until Nnamdi Kanu is released from prison, IPOB declared every Monday a sit-at-home day starting from August 9, 2021. A statement by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, announcing the harebrained policy of the self-determination group said: “We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wish to announce to all Biafra citizens, friends of Biafra and lovers of Biafra freedom and independence that IPOB leadership has declared every Monday ‘a ghost Monday’.
“This declaration takes effect from Monday, August 9, 2021. From that day Biafra land will be on lockdown every Monday from 6:00am to 6:00pm until our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who was unlawfully abducted in Kenya and illegally detained by the federal government of Nigeria is released.
“Nobody should attempt to flout this directive as doing so may come with huge consequences. Anybody flouting this order is taking a grave risk.”
And, indeed, it came with fiendish consequences for innocent people whose only crime was daring to eke out a living for their families on Mondays. It is so bad that even when IPOB disavowed the “ghost Monday” farce, it has become a permanent feature in the Southeast calendar because many are yet to recover from their tragic experiences and even Southeast governors are observing it religiously even as they talk tough.
As if that is not bad enough, IPOB has also extended the “ghost days” to any day Nnamdi Kanu is billed to appear in court, his birthday, etc.
So, why these many work-free days? None of the two religions – Christianity and Islam – pushing that every of the 365 days be declared a public holiday is indigenous. They are foreign religions and not even in the Arabian Peninsula and Israel where they originated are so many man hours wasted as work-free days in the name of religion.
In the developed climes of Europe and North America, no one can afford such luxury. For instance, in the United Kingdom, there are only eight bank holidays (public holidays), that the public receive as days off work, per calendar year: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, May Day, late May Bank Holiday, Summer Bank Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The United States recognizes 12 federal holidays and in Canada, there are 10 paid general holidays every year.
These incessant work-free days in Nigeria are ill-advised. The wasted man-hours are unquantifiable and the economy is worse for it. The public holidays are too many and unconscionable, needless and counter-productive and must be reduced if Nigerian leaders are serious about jumpstarting the economy and revving the engine of production and development. Holidays that fall on weekends should be celebrated on such days. No country desirous of productivity can afford to deliberately put her people out of work in the name of religious ceremonies as Nigeria does. The idea of unending public holidays is not only absurd but also sickening.
