Nigeria: Time To Change Night Vigils To Night Shifts 

By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq. 

Nigeria is perhaps one of the few economies that shut down by 4pm, under the guise of working hours. Most economies in the world, work 24 hours round the clock and so there is no room for night vigils. What they actually do are night shifts. You cannot be running an economy working 8 hours a day and you want to compete with an economy working 24 hours round the clock.

In an interview at the podcast – the Honest Bunch anchored by Nedu and Co, Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 Nigerian Presidential Elections made a comment that is actually the honest truth in this country.

He said, “We need to change Night Vigils to Night Shifts.” However, scared of the backlash this hard truth would have in his political career and the perfidious role the political arm of Christendom will have in any future political contest, Mr. Peter Obi quickly retracted his comments and said he was misquoted.

It was Karl Max that said Religion is the Opium of the Poor.

The Nigerian Populace is largely unproductive in Nigeria, but very productive abroad. Nigerians are the most sought-after workers anywhere in the world, because they are not just hard working, they are profoundly innovative.

For Nigerians however, charity begins abroad. If you called a Nigerian in diaspora on the phone during working hours, the person would text you that he or she is at work and so cannot take calls. This is because there are dire consequences if that happened.

But in Nigeria, they do all sorts of things, take calls indiscriminately during working hours, receive visitors at work and even take permission to go to parties and church, during working hours. Some Nigerian women do not even go to work if they were seeing their period.

If they do, they are unproductive. Nigerians take permission to stay away from work at the slightest opportunity. At the end, they put everything that is not working in Nigeria, in head of whoever is President.

If Nigerians work in Nigeria the way they work abroad, Nigeria will be far a better place to live in. The Canada and UK Nigerians run to, do not do night vigils every Friday. In fact, you can hardly find any Nigerian abroad, that does night Vigils, what they do is night shifts.

Some work 24 hours a day, in Nigeria here, some Pastors organize prayers from 8am to 12pm on a Monday morning and Nigerians who work for others or even have businesses, will attend. 

We do not count the costs in this country. That is why I recommend that Government should change the pattern of paying workers a fixed salary per month. Let workers, even government workers be paid hourly. You can spend on your life outside work, but those who are ready to work should be paid even for over time.

Christianity is not magic. The bible says in book of Ecclesiastics that there is time for everything under the earth. We must stop this docility in this country. We have some lazy bunch of people hiding under the facade of Christianity/other religions and this is affecting the Nigerian Economy.

That task you did not do in the office affects the Nigerian Economy, one way or the other. That Nurse or Doctor, who did not attend his or her night shift because he or she wants to attend night Vigil, may lead to the death of that patient at night.

Nigeria is perhaps one of the few economies that shut down by 4pm, under the guise of working hours. Most economies in the world, work 24 hours round the clock and so there is no room for night vigils. What they actually do are night shifts. You cannot be running an economy working 8 hours a day and you want to compete with an economy working 24 hours round the clock.

We need to redirect our energies in this country. Enough of the deceit. We need to be productive in Nigeria.

It was Charles Stanley that said: “The best way in the world to deceive believers is to cloak a message in religious language and declare that it conveys some new insight from God.”

Douglas Ogbankwa Esq @ douglasogbankwa@gmail.com, is a Lawyer and Policy Analyst, who founded the Benin Writers’ Society.