Nigerians’ undying love for holidays

It is not uncommon to see Nigerians rejoicing over the declaration of public holidays, especially if the holidays will run through several days. TADE MAKINDE and LEKAN OLABULO report that Nigerians love for long holidays runs deep.

TODAY is the first day in the year 2017. In many parts of the world work resumes tomorrow but not in Nigeria. This is because the Federal Government had declared tomorrow January 2 as a public holiday, the first day of the year being Sunday.

To say the least Nigerians love holidays. They love it when two-day holidays are extended to three days or even more, just like the Christmas and Boxing days became three days just because December 25 fell on a Sunday.

Sometimes Islamic holidays could extend beyond the normal days because the moon was not sighted on the expected day, as it happened during the last Eid-el-fitr holidays or because they fell on a weekend.

Holidays mean different things to different people. In Nigeria they afford people to rest, but more importantly especially when they present a long weekend, Nigerians who work far away from their immediate family members spend it to travel to attend to some family and issues.

More holidays

Successive administrations in the country have also effected some changes to the widely accepted holidays since 1999. Before then,  if a public holiday fell on a weekend it was usually observed on that particular day whichever day it was and not extended to other days. But since the coming of democracy, politicians, especially state governors have intentionally created more public holidays and extended some traditional holidays beyond the usual number of days, just to score cheap political points and thus remain among the electorate.

Nigerians now observe more public holidays in a year compared to many other countries. Last year alone, the federal government reportedly declared 27 days in the course of the year as public holidays.

Why Holidays?

Traditionally, holidays are declared to allow individuals tend to religious duties associated with important dates on the calendar. In most societies, however, holidays serve as much of a recreational function as any other weekend days. In Nigeria also, where the North is predominantly Muslims, and South mostly Christians, religious holidays are the most looked forward to by citizens.

In United States, the most popular holiday is the Thanksgiving Day traditionally a religious holiday, observed on last Thursdays in November.

“That day is hugely celebrated and synonymous with turkey. Nigerians have the eroneous belief that turkeys are for Xmas in America. That is not true. Turkeys are served on Thanksgiving Day. If you like, you can serve chicken or turkey on Xmas, but turkeys are standard on Thanksgiving, said, Mr Femi Lawani, who lived in US for almost three decades.

The advert consultant added that “it is a time that people get drunk and eat, as people travel far and wide from, and within America, to celebrate with their families. Thanksgiving is more popular in America than Christmas. They don’t declare Christmas, Boxing Day or New Year. What they do is to place workers on vacation which usually begins any time from December 23 till January 2nd or 3rd.

“Rather than have two, three day holidays, they go on two, three weeks straight vacation. Some even go on vacation from October 1st to January 1st. But the Chinese don’t observe these holidays. They work their staff to the bones.

According to wikipedia, Japan, Malaysia, Argentina, Lithuania, Vietnam, Sweden are the fifth less-holiday observing countries in the world with 15 holidays, while both Colombia and Philippines (18 days) are tops, followed by China, Hong Kong with 17 holidays; Thailand, Turkey, Pakistan are fourth with 16. With Nigeria declaring close to one month holidays this past year, and for a country that is not known to have fixed holidays, she may well be the top country in the world when it comes to declaring public holidays.

The UK has among the fewest public holidays in the world. The most ardently observed is the Bank holidays,  enshrined in law since 1871 when Sir John Lubbock, a Liberal MP and banker, introduced the legislation as part of his efforts to ease the lifestyles of the most hardly worked classes of the community.

In the UK, if New Year holidays fall on a weekend, the first working day is declared a public holiday.

“As a predominanatly Christian country, Britain does not declare holidays for Islamic events. Apart from Easter and Christmas holidays, the Bank holidays are the most observed. The Early May Bank holiday is what Nigerians call the Workers Day. The last of the three Bank holidays, the Summer Bank holiday, is also the day the popular Nottinghill Carnival holds,” said Mr Adegunle Soyoye, a Nigerian-born British civil servant.

Costly holidays

The three-day public holiday declared by the Federal Government on Thursday, July 2016, for the Eid-el-Fitr celebration in an economy already in recession, reportedly cost the country N138 billion by the time it ended.

Scheduled treasury bills auction estimated at N94 billion, as well as N44 billion treasury bills maturity for the week, was put off because of the unusual straight three-day.

“So, the week just ran like a closed economy. It is as if everyone was just sleeping and not waking up at all. That is exactly how gains and losses and value addition to the economy also remained standstill. Friday’s transactions are usually cautious one due to speculations over the week ahead. The auctions on Friday will not make much meaning,” a financial market operator said.

Similarly, the interbank lending rate, particularly the Overnight, fell to five per cent on Friday, compared with 15 percent a week earlier, as cash from maturing treasury bills and payments by government to its contractors, boosted liquidity.

According to Reuters, stock market traders said the increased cash flow left the money market with a N267.10 billion surplus balance on Friday, reversing the N300 billion shortfall a week earlier and pushing down the cost of borrowing among commercial lenders. Many banks had approached the Central Bank’s discount window to borrow short-term cash last week to enable them meet obligations and ease iquidity pressures.

Just last week as Nigerians celebrated Christmas and Boxing Day, organised financial activities were crippled as ATMs nationwide malfunctioned. Many thronged banks to withdraw cash, but couldn’t. This development was described as not only shameful for the country, but should be a wake-up call to the wasteful nature of Nigerians.

“We waste a lot of things in this country. We waste power, minerals, water, but sadly, time. Time that could have been spent productively was wasted on holidays. We lose money everyday in a working week that state and federal government declare as public holidays,” said Mr Richard Ajayi of Apex Financial Home, Ilupeju, Lagos. The consultant added that frivolous holidays speak a lot about Nigerians’ attitude to work.

“We are plain lazy. We rejoice, and even beg for holidays. We are a wasteful nation. Even the hardworking nations have not got to a stage where they can meet all their economic and other needs, but here we are, wasting almost two months of a year on holidays. That is ridiculous. We should begin to consider reducing the number of holidays that workers are given in a year,” he stated.

Travelling for holiday

One major feature of the holiday period in Nigeria is inter-city travels especially when there is enough number to travel to and fro. During the last Christmas holidays the economic recession affected many travellers especially those from the south east living in lagos and other parts of the south west.

Visits by the Sunday Tribune to bus terminuses in parts of Lagos revealed that though there were lesser number of people travelling a sizeable number had travelled at least two days before Christmas.

Donatus, one of the park attendants of a transport company in Oshodi area of Lagos State said “One thing that is very clear is that nothing can stop the Igbo from travelling home for the Christmas. It is more important to them than any other celebration.”

A top member of staff of another transport company, who pleaded anonymity, while speaking with the Sunday Tribune stated that travellers have defied the economic situation.

“For more than a week now, especially before Christmas, people have been travelling but you cannot compare that with what happened last year and the year before. This period is very important to people from that area,” the transport company official said.

Christopher, an indigene of one of the Igbo-speaking Delta communities said “Only God can stop me from going to the village to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. Many people will come back before the New Year but Christmas is very important. I have only missed it once or twice in the last fifteen years.

“Let me tell you the secret of Christmas in the East and the South of Nigeria. That is the time when you show what you have done in the last one year. That is when families show their opulence. It is more than just a feast.”

The situation is however not the same with Fidelis, a trader. Before the yuletide, he was “still looking for money to buy second hand clothes” for his children.

“You are talking about travelling home… Where is the money in the country now? Things are difficult” he told Sunday Tribune.