₦airaland Forum

By Reno Omokri

For a nation that has already had one quarter of
negative economic growth and is in danger of
having another negative quarter (which would
invariably put us officially in a recession), I was
shocked, like many right thinking people, when the
Federal Government extended the Eid-el-Fitr
holidays which had initially been declared for
Tuesday the 5th and Wednesday the 6th of July,
2016 to now include Thursday the 7th of July.

This record three day holiday effectively rendered
the week beginning on Sunday July 3rd, 2016, a
wasted week because Nigerians would naturally
spend Monday the 4th preparing for the holiday
and no right thinking person would expect any
serious business to hold on Friday the 8th after the
whole nation had been on holiday for the three
days prior to that.

The economic implication of this decision is that
when the Gross Domestic production of the third
quarter of 2016 is being calculated, Nigeria would
not be able to count on any meaningful production
for one business week.

Flowing from the above, no one needs a crystal
ball to predict that Nigeria is headed for another
round of negative economic growth when the next
quarterly GDP data is unveiled.

Yet this is the same country where 18,000 babies
are born everyday and it is doubtful that up to
1,800 new jobs are created everyday. With this
grim statistic, no one around the President thought
it wise to advise him against making the small
percentage of Nigerians who are employed to be
underemployed by at least one week because of a
holiday.

Is it that we do not understand the economic
implications of our actions and how they effect the
financial and economic well being of our nation?
Nigeria should be doing everything it can to ensure
that it does not have consecutive periods of
negative economic growth for the simple reason
that having an economy in recession would lead to
our economy being further downgraded. The
implication of a downgraded economy is that we
will not be able to attract the level of Foreign Direct
Investment we need to drive growth. Further
implications are that we would only be able to
access credit at higher interest rates. The resultant
effect of that would be loss of value in our stock
exchange and a downward pressure on the value of
the Naira (further devaluation) and when that
happens, it would mean more people out of work
and a worsening of Nigeria's Human Development
Index.

The question is this-aren't there people around
President Muhammadu Buhari who can explain this
to him? Should Nigeria be holidaying while Rome
burns?

The United States has eleven federal holidays while
England has eight holidays (known as Bank
Holiday). In contrast, Nigeria's holidays are
discretionary, meaning that you cannot ascertain
how many days would be holidays. Holidays can
be declared at the whims and caprices of the
government in power, as has just been
demonstrated, such that as at the first week of July
when we should be entering only the second half
of the year 2016, Nigeria has already had 8 public
holidays which is equal to the number of holidays
England would have throughout the year 2016!

We had a holiday on January 1st for New Year's
Day. We had two days holidays on Friday, March
25 and Monday, March 28 for Good Friday and
Easter. We had another holiday on May 2nd for
May Day (workers day) and we had a holiday on
May 30th to mark Democracy Day. And now we
have just had a three day holiday.

Is it then any surprise that Nigeria's production is
seriously below par? If you quantify the lost man
hours that have been frittered away in these
unnecessarily long holidays we would be talking
hundreds of billions. How do I know? It is simple
mathematics really.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics,
Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product for the first
quarter of 2016 stood at ₦22.26 trillion Naira. This
means we averaged a daily GDP of ₦245 billion
(when you divide ₦22.26 trillion Naira by the 90
days in an average quarter).

In today's Naira, ₦245 billion is $867 million
dollars. In essence, for every holiday Nigeria
observes, we lose almost a billion dollars or to be
more exact $867 million!

This is a lot of money for a country that borrows
to pay the salaries of its civil servants and is still
sourcing for loans to finance its 2016 budget when
we are already passed the middle of the year.

The other day, the Federal Government called for
prayers for the precarious state of the economy
and now the same government that wants divine
intervention to help rescue the economy is itself
taking actions that are at cross purposes with its
own prayers. What is happening in Nigeria?

Eid-el-Fitr is an Islamic holiday. Though I am a
Christian pastor, I have read the Quran. It says as
follows in Quran, 4:29 'O ye who believe! Do not
squander one another’s wealth in vanities, but let
there be amongst you traffic and trade by mutual
good will.'

As a matter of fact, in one of the hadiths of the
prophet, he was asked a question about what type
of earning was best for a man and he responded 'a
man’s work with his hands and every (lawful)
business transaction.”

Are we then good Muslims if we ignore these
ecclesiastical commandments and directions in
order that we may holiday and play when we ought
to be at work?

Nigeria can not afford the luxury of what we have
just done. If anything at all, we should not have
more than one day to observe either a Christian or
Muslim holiday.

If tomorrow the Naira depreciates in value, the
government would blame economic sabotage, the
previous administration or the slump in the price of
oil and all the usual suspects. Hardly remembered
will be the time when Nigeria holidayed while
Rome was burning.

Religion is not a license for laziness. Quite the
contrary. Religion is the means by which man, by
careful observance of the rules given us by God,
lives a life that ensures his physical and spiritual
wellbeing.

That is the part we forgot when either missionaries
or conquerors brought the two great Abrahamic
faiths to Nigeria.

May God help us all.


www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/holidaying-rome-burns/

that what happen when the bros have abokis' and yoloba people has special advisers

Nice read sir...

The issue here is that we Nigerians like holidays. The economic implications actually don't bother us as such since we aren't a producing country.


We want to be like america but the truth is that we are not just ready. Not until we put religious sentiment aside and focus on developmental issues this kind of scenario will continuely repeat itself.

please who go summarize, how many of this lengthy story/news can somone read everyday

Rubbish, who beg you to go on holiday? My company did not go on holiday for Thursday and heaven did not fall

phemmyutd:
Rubbish, who beg you to go on holiday? My company did not go on holiday for Thursday and heaven did not fall

wht are u sayin self?

phemmyutd:
Rubbish, who beg you to go on holiday? My company did not go on holiday for Thursday and heaven did not fall

lol nice point the fool who defended Jonathan destruction of Nigeria pretends Nigerians during public holiday cease doing business when in fact more people have time for relaxation and other fun stuff to do.

My Ogo Reno nok disturb urself... this government even if they like they shouldn't go 4 one day holiday. Economy will still go south, and will still head into recession. Shebi skye bank Don hands up. Another bank go follow suit. My felllow Nigerians no be prayer something. This government has no clear-clut economic direction. Tell me how many projects are going on since dey signed d budget. Abi has inflation reduced since dey signed d budget. Abi has dollar come down since they signed the budget. APC has wasted 18months. After 2years Nigerians will give dem their Mid-term score card.

We are waiting 2019. Is not far again.

vedaxcool:
lol nice point the fool who defended Jonathan destruction of Nigeria pretends Nigerians during public holiday cease doing business when in fact more people have time for relaxation and other fun stuff to do.

This fellow self.
Must you bring Jonathan in every discussion?

Did he snatched ur wife from u?
Pls attack the message not the messenger.

Reno shut your trap, you were once there! Supporting the past govt. Now you open your mouth to spew nonsense. Who you epp?

michaelismenten:
please who go summarize, how many of this lengthy story/news can somone read everyday

Simply said, cluelessness is and "is in" Buhari's govt. Cluelessness at its peak.