Benue’s Needless Agriculture Holiday

The Benue State government commenced on Friday a policy of making Fridays work-free to enable civil servants go to their farms, produce, and help to improve the state’s economy.

The intention looks, certainly, good, but the strategy is flawed. What the state needs to increase agricultural production is not holidays, but incentives, such as machines, loan facilities, storage and repurchase arrangement that would guarantee profitable investment even in periods of bumper harvest and glut.

Besides, those who have chosen a profession in the civil service need to be allowed to do their job efficiently. They do not need the forced holiday that is, definitely, a distraction to the profession. Even civil servants who have voluntarily chosen to combine their official work with farming do not need holidays to do so.

In the final analysis, what the Benue State government has done is to declare work-free Fridays for civil servants to rest and further reduce their productivity.
– Vincent Obia