Abuja – The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd. (ACCIL) on Thursday said unplanned public holidays could have adverse effect on business productivity and the economy.
This is contained in a statement issues and signed by the Chamber’s President, Mr Tony Ejikeoyen in Abuja.
Ejikeoyen said that the many public holidays observed in the country could have an unplanned effect on business productivity, which in turn could adversely affect the economy.
He said that while business production was likely to be affected by public holidays, the impact could be managed if these public holidays were planned in advance.
He said that this would allow businesses to plan appropriately and factor in the possible effects of less work days.
“The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nigeria was worth 481.07 billion dollars in 2015, from an all time high of 568.51 billion dollars in 2014.
“Thus, it is estimated that the effect of one public holiday can cost the country more than 1.88 billion dollars,” he said.
Ejikeoyen, who did not dispute the fact that some of the country’s public holidays were also being observed in many developed countries around the world, said extended public holiday period could also affect revenue generated from businesses.
“With the Nigerian economy still struggling with imminent recession, the impact of less productive work days may result in an economic recovery taking much longer,” he said.
He said that the number of public holidays might not be the issue at hand in terms of productivity.
According to him, this negative impact is more or less the same for small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing sector as well as for larger businesses because both will lose production days.
He therefore called for reduction in the number of the holiday observed by the country. (NAN)
Unplanned holidays may affect productivity, economy says Abuja Chamber
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