Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to review and restructure the nation’s official workdays, stressing that the current arrangement is unfair to Muslims and does not reflect Nigeria’s diverse religious balance.
In a detailed video message shared on his verified Facebook page on Friday, Omokri explained that while Christians across the country enjoy Sunday as a recognised day of rest and worship, Muslims are still mandated to work on Fridays, despite the fact that Friday holds deep spiritual and religious importance for the Islamic community.
He noted that long before the introduction of colonial rule, several Muslim-majority communities in Nigeria traditionally recognised Friday as a day of rest, where people were able to fully devote themselves to prayers and community gatherings. According to him, this indigenous practice was disrupted during the colonial era, leading to a system that favours one religious group over the other in the modern work schedule.
Omokri further proposed that a fair and workable compromise could be designed without harming national productivity. His suggestion was to slightly restructure daily office hours so that workdays from Monday to Thursday could begin earlier, for example at 7:30 am, thereby creating room for offices and institutions to close by noon on Fridays. This adjustment, he explained, would enable Muslims to participate in Jumu’ah prayers without the burden of rushing or neglecting professional duties, while the time lost on Fridays would be compensated for by longer working hours earlier in the week.
“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, stressing the need for a balanced and inclusive approach.
He went on to add: “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.”
His remarks have already generated discussions across social and religious circles, with many Nigerians debating whether such a proposal could foster better inclusivity or if it would disrupt the country’s already fragile work culture. Nonetheless, Omokri insists that the proposal is both practical and fair, ensuring equal treatment for Muslims and Christians alike in Nigeria’s multi-religious society.