Who or what misled the Federal Government into announcing a wrong date for the Sallah holiday that just ended? A rather disturbing account circulated midweek. It was whispered that the monumental embarrassment could have been saved had there not been a chasm between the Buhari people and the Sokoto sultanate. The tradition was that the Interior Ministry interacted with the Sultan as the head of the nation’s Muslim community before public holiday(s) was declared in the circumstance.
As the story goes, as has become the fashion in Abuja nowadays, no such consultation happened last week before the bureaucrats at the Interior ministry were said to have exercised their discretion by unilaterally declaring July 5 and 6 as holiday for Eidel- Fitr. And when the much-awaited moon had still not been sighted by Monday midnight, it became crystal clear the gamble had failed. Much to the nation’s discomfiture, a “supplementary day” had to be added Tuesday, bringing the new tally to three days.
Trust ingenious Nigerians, the controversy was parlayed to an opportunity to invent an assortment of jokes about the “missing moon” in the social media. The most hilarious perhaps being either the allusion to INEC characteristically declaring that “The sighting of the moon was inconclusive” or the usually conniving Abuja High Court ruling that “The sighting of the moon has been adjourned to tomorrow” or the phantom report categorically quoting the EFCC as saying that “Those responsible for the missing moon will soon be apprehended and charged accordingly. We have evidence.”
To be sure, one is not in a position to confirm the veracity of the aforementioned conspiracy theory yet. But given the creeping culture of silence in Abuja today, the inquisitive are condemned to continue to sift through the grapevine in the days ahead in case they are still desirous of reaching the bottom of the matter. Nonetheless, the concomitant shame on the nation is better appreciated given that Saudi Arabia, the acclaimed spiritual pathfinder and indeed the custodian of the holiest sites of the Islamic faith, did not declare Tuesday a national holiday.
The scandal was compounded by what seemed a poor lexical facility. The wording of the statement announcing the “supplementary holiday” was most inelegant, further casting Abuja in sordid lights. It may indeed sound diffident for the Permanent Secretary who signed the circular on behalf of the Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, to state that the extension became necessary after “the directive by the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, to the effect that the Ramadan fast continues today (Tuesday) as a result of the non-sighting of the moon.”
But grave damage is inadvertently done to the mystique and indeed institutional integrity of the Federal Government to so rationalize. At least, nowhere in the current 1999 constitution is it indicated that the federation is now a theocracy. Ideally, someone ought to be sanctioned for such egregious error of judgement in Abuja. In material terms, the cost of a day off duty to the national economy is incalculable. To say nothing about the inconvenience to those least prepared for it. For instance, twice within a week, schools earlier scheduled to shut down had to hurriedly adjust their calendar. It is doubly tragic considering that the nation is officially now in recession, having chalked up negative growth for two consecutive quarters.
But no one in Abuja and elsewhere seems sufficiently perturbed or thoughtful enough to link the craze for public holiday to the growing decline in national productivity as wage is mostly earned in the public sector without having to even break a single sweat in the indulgent assurance that the proverbial cake will always be available on the table to share whenever the Finance minister and her counterparts in the 36 federating states regroup in Abuja at the third week of every month insofar oil money continues to flow in.
It is no coincidence therefore that relatively prosperous nations have lesser national holidays while those with beggarly GDP tend to be the ones obsessed with vacations. In the United States, for instance, the total number of national holidays scheduled for 2016 is eleven days. Ditto France. Singapore will tolerate 13 days. Whereas South Africa has 15 days, Russia, Ghana and Nigeria tally at 16.
But the 16 officially announced by Nigeria does not cover days lost to the whimsicality of labour strikes often over the most jejune of grievances. Nor the man-hour lost at gas stations when workers queue up for petrol when they should be at their desks. When all of these disruptions are consolidated, we are actually looking at a significant portion of the calendar year mindlessly incinerated.
Of course, extended holiday will be bad news for those whose daily survival depends on their toil for the day. Or the hard-nosed employer who views every moment of the downtime as lost opportunity to create more wealth. And all those whose peculiar vocations simply make no room for the proverbial lotus-eating. Like the journalist who, willy-nilly, has to write the first draft of history.
Expectedly, only the slothful ones would have rejoiced at the addition of Thursday as holiday. Among them must have been salaried public servants whose next pay cheque is already assured on the guarantied receipt of oil money. In fact, to such category of wageearners, the remaining working day of the week (Friday) would simply be taken as gratis. Anyone in doubt should conduct a roll-call at most public offices today; attendance will certainly be very low.
But Abuja is not alone is freely doling out holiday; it fits into what seems a growing pattern across the federation. Stretched to the limits of their creativity in the season of recession, it would appear more and more governments think the only way to comfort or pacify the people is give them more holiday.
In Benue, for instance, every Friday was recently declared holiday not only to officially enable the civil servants owed arrears of salaries farm compulsorily as part of the state’s ingenious hunger management strategy, but also as unofficial concession to help them minimize the costs of transportation.
As you read this, workers of Abia State should still be savoring a bouquet of additional holiday unilaterally announced by its embattled “governor” after having the gubernatorial rug pulled suddenly from under his feet last week by an Abuja court. Following the initial declaration of Tuesday and Wednesday as holiday by the Federal Government, Okezie Ikpeazu added Monday and Thursday for Abia in what was clearly seen as a calculated attempt to shut down government machinery and forestall the installation of his rival, Uche Ogah, as new governor as directed by the court pending the determination of his own appeal.
Holiday-obsessed Ikpeazu earlier declared June 30 as work-free in Abia in honour of Ojo Maduekwe, an illustrious citizen who recently passed on. Similarly, when in February the Supreme Court had affirmed his victory, Ikpeazu did not think twice before pronouncing the 15th day of that month holiday.
As the crusader-in-chief, President Buhari ought to realize that the promise of change should not be about anti-corruption alone, but the work ethic as well. It is on record that twice within his first year in office, Buhari himself had gone on official leave – worst of all – abroad. Now, everyone seems in a hurry to break his record.
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