Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has urged the Federal Government to revisit Nigeria’s official workdays, saying the current arrangement places Muslims at a disadvantage.
In a video posted on his verified Facebook page on Friday, Omokri argued that while Sunday is widely observed as a rest day for Christians, Muslims are still expected to work on Fridays, despite the day’s central role in Islamic worship.
He pointed out that before the advent of colonial administration, Fridays were traditionally recognised as a rest day in many Muslim communities across the country.
Omokri suggested that a workable compromise could be achieved by slightly adjusting office hours.
According to him, work could start earlier from Monday to Thursday, enabling offices to close by noon on Fridays.
This, he said, would allow Muslims to attend Jumu’ah prayers without disrupting productivity or affecting Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“I don’t think it is fair for the Muslim Ummah for us to have Friday as a working day in Nigeria. Originally, before colonialism, it was not like that,” Omokri said.
He added: “Now we have Sunday as a non-working day and Friday as a working day. I think that we can achieve a compromise. What we can do is that instead of work beginning on Mondays all the way to Friday at 9am or 8am, we can start work at 7:30am on Mondays to Fridays and then on Friday we close at 12 o’clock. So the time we are going to lose on Friday we are going to gain it back from Monday to Thursday. That way, there would be a more equitable balance of our workday lives in Nigeria.”