Most civil servants working in Abuja, the nation’s capital refused to turn back to work fully after observing a two-day public holiday of Wednesday and Thursday and choosing to add one more day Friday, May 14 to their holiday. 
The Federal Government had declared Wednesday and Thursday as public holidays to mark the 2021 Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria, who visited the Federal Secretariat in Abuja on Friday, however, observed that the complex which was usually a beehive of activities was virtually empty.
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NAN reports that activities were low as most offices were locked with a few members of the staff and cleaners seen hanging around.
It was also observed that most of the major roads linking the secretariat, which were usually busy during weekdays as well as the car park, were scanty.
Some of the civil servants, who spoke with NAN, blamed the low turnout of workers after the holidays on the delay in the payment of salaries by the Federal Government.
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They also said that the offices were devoid of the usual busy activities because some workers, who traveled for the break, were yet to return from their trips to Abuja.
Mrs Edith Odoemelam, a civil servants, explained that non-payment of salary before the Sallah holidays could be one of the major reasons for the low turnout of workers to work.
“With the present economic challenges, it could be that those who traveled out of Abuja had financial challenges to return on time after spending little they had with their families
“It is a big challenge that some of us have experienced before, ” Odoemelam said.
Mr Ibrahim Suleiman, another civil servants, attributed the low turnout to what he tagged as “Nigerian attitude to work after holidays”.
“It has been our general attitude to extend holidays for ourselves whenever we have a break into weekends and the present situation is not an exception.
“Already there were rumors all over that the two days holidays were extended, which of course is not so and this has made some people feel relaxed,” Suleiman observed.
Photo Credit: Getty
