In Nigeria, I don’t think we really need more holidays than the ones we already have. If you check our calendar, you will see that we already have quite a number of public holidays in a year. Sometimes, when a new holiday is declared, people even wonder what exactly it is meant for. But the truth is, nobody rejects a holiday. Who doesn’t like to stay at home without working or going to school? Everyone loves it. If the government says tomorrow is a holiday, we will all gladly accept it.
Not long ago in my state, Oyo State, the government declared a new traditional holiday. The traditional worshippers argued that since Christians have Christmas holidays and Muslims have Sallah holidays, they also deserved their own. The government listened and gave them a day, and just like that, we had another holiday. On that day, people didn’t complain at all. Everybody stayed home and enjoyed the break. It shows that no matter how many holidays we already have, people will always want more.
Even students are like that. After the long third-term break, schools just resumed recently. Yet if you ask the children, many of them will still say the holiday was not enough. That is how human beings are—we are never satisfied with rest. Our natural body doesn’t really love stress or hard work. If it was left for us, we would just sit at home and relax. But life doesn’t work that way. We all know the saying, “no food for a lazy man.” That is why we wake up every day to go to work or school, even if we don’t always feel like it.
For me, I think the number of holidays in Nigeria is enough. Too much of it is not good, and it can even affect the economy of the country. I am not an economist or a politician, but I know that when workers go on strike, the government does everything possible to bring them back to work. That shows how important it is for people to keep working. If too many holidays are declared, the country will not move forward the way it should.
I also remember when universities in Nigeria went on strike for several months. At the beginning, many of us students were happy because it felt like an unexpected holiday. We thought we could rest, travel, and enjoy ourselves. But after some time, the rest became tiring. We were just sitting at home doing nothing, and it became frustrating. Most students wanted to go back to school, even though school comes with stress. That period make me know that too much holiday is not a good thing. Even rest can become boring when it is too much.
Another reason why we don’t need more holidays is because the economy suffers when work stops. Offices, schools, businesses, and markets all contribute to the growth of the country. When everything shuts down too often, money is lost and progress is delayed. A single day of holiday may look small, but when you add many together, it becomes a big loss. People may be happy at home, but the country as a whole is not smiling.
This doesn’t mean holidays are not important. They are very useful. Holidays give us time to rest, spend time with family, and celebrate our culture and religion. They make life more colorful and exciting. Christmas, Sallah, Independence Day, and even Workers’ Day are all times when people come together to celebrate and be happy. But if holidays become too many, they will no longer feel special. They will lose their value and people may even get tired of them, just like students got tired during the university strike.
Holidays we have in Nigeria are enough. We don’t need to add more to the calendar. Holidays are sweet when they come once in a while, not when they are too frequent. If we rest too much, we will stop being productive, and both individuals and the country will suffer. Life is about balance time to work and time to rest. That is what makes holidays enjoyable.