Every Day Is Special: May 29 - Public Holiday in Nigeria

May 29 - Public Holiday in Nigeria

Posted on May 29, 2019

The reason for today being a holiday in the African nation of Nigeria is a bit unclear.

May 29 used to be Democracy Day, because it is the anniversary of the day when a military government gave up its power to a democratically elected government on May 29, 1999.

But last year, the government announced that Democracy Day will now be held on June 12 every year. That, too, is a historical anniversary - the anniversary of the 1993 election that has been called Nigeria's freest, most fair election.

So - all the lists of Public Holidays in Nigeria list the June 12 date as Democracy Day, but this will be the first year in a long time that May 29 wasn't a holiday, and there may have been some questions and grumbling and...

And so - a couple of days ago, at a press conference, the Minister of Information and Culture announced that both May 29 and June 12 would be public holidays! Not to mention the fact that just a few days ago, May 27, was ALSO a Nigerian holiday! It was Children's Day!!!

Well, hey, more days to celebrate!!

Not sure exactly what we're celebrating today...but...

Celebrate the people! According to an informal poll, Nigerians are hard working, happy, and friendly, and there is a lot of diversity of culture. (There are 250 different ethnic groups in the nation!)

Celebrate the weather! Most of Nigeria has a pleasant climate, called tropical savannah; it's warm and moderate as to rainfall. There are of course variations - Nigeria is about twice the size of California, so it's not super small! - including areas that have monsoons, areas that have lots of rainfall all year, and areas that are desert.

Celebrate opportunity! As I mentioned a few days ago, Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa. Some people in that informal poll linked above mentioned that they feel that there are many ways to "make it" in their country - ways to be creative, ways to contribute, ways to succeed.