List Of Public Holidays In Nigeria

As the festive season approaches and barely 6 weeks to the end of year 2023, Osun Defender, in this special report take us on a trip down some notable events that highlights the year 2023 in general and the lists of public holidays observed in Nigeria.

Public holidays also known as a national holidays are days designated by government of a country as official day off for the general population. These holidays are obeserved nationwide to commemorate important historical, cultural or religious events.

Public holidays often hold symbolic and emotional significance for citizens, as they provide an opportunity for people to come together, celebrate, and reflect on shared values, traditions, and history. These holidays may be accompanied by various activities, such as parades, fireworks, religious ceremonies, family gatherings, and festive events.

The purpose of public holidays varies from country to country, but generally,  they commemorate important historical or cultural events, religious observances, or significant milestones.

For many Nigerians, public holidays are the best part of the year. More often than not, Nigerian working class look forward to holidays especially the festive season. They see it as an avenue to get off work schedules and unwind the stress and rigours of work. 

Oftentimes, some companies organise end of the year party for their staffs where gifts are presented to the hardworking as well as other entitlements. Majorly, public holidays are used by Nigerians to attend to family, kits and kin whom they have not seen in a while due to the pressing demands of their job. They also attend occasions, parties or familiy functions to have lasting memories with people they couldn’t get in touch with in the year. Basicaly, Nigerians are party rockers and majority of Nigerian parties are scheduled in a way that afford the working class to attend thus, they normally coincede with public holidays. Below are the list of public holidays in Nigeria and the reasons behind the celebrations. 

New Year’s Day

What better way to open up a new year than with celebration and resolutions that end up being abandoned mid-year? According to the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Day is the first day of the year, January 1, and it’s the most widely observed public holiday as it’s celebrated worldwide, with Israel being the only exception. 

The Armed Forces Remembrance Day

 Armed Forces Remembrance Day (AFRD), also called “Armistice Day“, is celebrated on January 15. And it’s a public holiday for members of the armed forces only, i.e., the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, and the Nigerian Legion. This day is used to commemorate the surrender of the Biafran troops in 1970 and honour the military officers who lost their lives protecting Nigeria. AFRD is usually celebrated with sales of the remembrance emblems; special prayers are held in military churches and mosques around the country; and a military parade and wreath-laying ceremony are organised in each state. 

Easter

This is a Christian holiday usually celebrated in the first week of April. It is observed nationally to mark the resurrection of Jesus. It usually starts on a Friday, called Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and ends with Easter Monday, which marks the day after His resurrection. 

Eid-el Filtri

Eid-el Filtri, also called the “Festival of Breaking of the Fast” or “Small Sallah,” is an Islamic national holiday used to mark the end of a month of fasting popularly known as Ramadan. The dates for this celebration usually differ each year as it depends on local mosques’ sightings of the new moon. 

Workers Day

Workers Day is commemorated on May 1 every year, and it’s used to mark the achievements of the labour movement. This holiday, also called May Day or International Workers Day, is also observed in over 80 countries. In Nigeria, May 1 was first recognised and declared a public holiday by the Kano state’s People Redemption Party (PRP) in 1980, and it became a national holiday on May 1, 1981.  

Children’s Day

Children’s Day is celebrated every year on May 27 in honour of children. It was first proclaimed in 1925 at the World Conference on Children Welfare in Geneva. This day is a public holiday for children in primary and secondary schools. 

Inauguration Day

This day was formerly recognised as Democracy Day until former president Muhammadu Buhari declared June 12 the new date to celebrate Nigeria’s democracy. Now, May 29 is used solely to mark Nigeria’s transition to a new government.

Democracy Day

Before the declaration of June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day, this day usually served as a reminder of the flaws in our electoral system. 30 years ago, on June 12, 1993, MKO Abiola won the presidential election against Bashir Tofa in a landslide, but the election was annulled by then the military government led by Ibrahim Babangida. 

However, on June 6th, 2023, Buhari decided to honour the late Chief MKO Abiola with the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, GCFR—the highest national honour reserved only for presidents and former presidents. And he also moved Democracy Day to June 12 to celebrate Nigeria’s democracy.

Hijrah (Islamic New Year) 

The word “Al-Hijra” means migration. After arriving in Medina, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) founded the first community founded on Islamic principles. For this reason, it is considered the start of the Islamic era and the Muslim New Year.

Eid-el Kabir

The Eld-el Kabir is the “Feast of Sacrifice”, also popularly known as “Big Sallah”. This festival is used to honour the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son. This holiday is the second main holiday in Islam after Eid-el Filtri, and dates also differ from year to year.   

Eid-el Maulud

This is another Islamic national holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to observe the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. The date for this celebration also differs annually, but it usually occurs in late September. 

Independence Day

Independence Day is a national holiday celebrated every October 1 to mark Nigeria’s independence from British rule in 1960.

Christmas Day

This is another Christian holiday celebrated worldwide every December 25th to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Common traditions on this day involve special church services, carol singing, and gift-giving.

Boxing Day

Boxing day, often called the day of Goodwill in Nigeria is celebrated on rhe 26th of December. It is said that tge name comes getting ris of bozes frompreaents after Christmas.

Others…..

Isese Day

Isese in Yorùbá means tradition and Isese Day is meant to celebrate Yorùbá traditions and religion in a display of culture and spirituality with variety of activities such as festivities, parades, lectures and showcasing of different traditional apparels to attract tourists from across the world.

Sambisa Memorial Day

Sambisia Memorial Day is an holiday that’s observed annually in Nigeria or more specifically, Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. This day remembers the victims of Boko Haram insurgents and remembers the fallen soldiers and volunteers who sacrificed their lives fighting Boko Haram.

Takutaha Day

Takutaha, is a historical celebration marked as the seventh day of the birth of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (SAW). It has become a tradition already adopted by the Federal Government of Nigeria to mark the 12th day of Rabi’u Awwal as a national public day, it is the third month of the Islamic calendar, which also served as the birthday of the holy Prophet (SAW), among Muslims.

Public Holidays In Other Countries

Contrary to 14 days taken off in Nigeria as offical holidays, there are only 11 official holidays in the United States. The official holidays are Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washington’s Day, Memorial Day and Juneteenth National Independence Day.

Also, the United Kingdom observes 7 holidays a year. Although, aditional days are allocated for special events, such as royal weddings and jubilees. There are seven holidays common to all jurisdictions, which are: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, the early May bank holiday, the Spring bank holiday, the Summer bank holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. 

Effects of Public Holidays On Workers’ Productivity

It is observed that high income and productive countries tend to have fewer public holidays. Since businesses are required to close during public holidays in Nigeria, this causes distruptions in supply chain of consumables and equally having adverse effect on the economy.

Nigerian workers seem to be the ones enjoying the holiday spree as they continue to take time off work while their salaries are not affected at the end of the month.

Speaking on the impact of public holidays on the Nigerian economy, a financial expert, Mr James Makanjuola explained that with Nigerian economy still struggling, less productive workdays may result in economic recovery taking much longer. Makanjuola also attributed low yield in Nigeria’s GDP as a result of too many holidays.

Makanjuola called on the federal government to review the public holidays currently observed in the country, saying some of them are too frivolous for a nation still struggling economically.

He said countries like China, the US and UK have a viable economy because they have strict working rule for their citizens.

He said: ” As a nation, we don’t seem to appreciate that time is productivity, productivity is money and productivity is translated to increase in Gross Domestic Product. 

“The impact of less productive workdays may result in Nigerian economy taking much longer given that we are still struggling economically. I hope our government can be firm on its decision and stop these holidays because they are mere frivolities. We need to study the types of holidays and their impact on the economy before declaring them as holidays.

“15 national public holidays are being observed excluding others declared in some states. What kind of a nation are we trying to build if we take days off with no tangible reasons? Things like these do not happen in advanced countries. The reason the likes of the US, China and UK were able to build a competitive viable economy is because they take their workdays serious. In fact, some businesses do not close during holidays in the US. Also, their banks operate on Saturdays, so tell me why their economy will not be viable?