The Federal Government has declared May 29 and June 12 as public holidays to mark the transition to a new government and Democracy Day respectively.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohamed, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday.
Mohammed said that most of the activities formerly performed on May 29 as Democracy Day have been moved to June 12 and that the events slated for May 29, would be low key.
He added that world leaders will only attend the June 12 events.
Recall that Democracy Day was held annually on May 29, the day the military handed over power to an elected civilian government in 1999, marking the beginning of the longest continuous civilian rule since Nigeria’s independence from colonial rule in 1960.
However, on June 6, 2018, eight days after May 29, 2018, had been celebrated as Democracy Day, the President Buhari-led government of Nigeria declared June 12 to be the new Democracy Day.
The Senate, last week, almost one year after the announcement, passed the Public Holiday Act Amendment Bill to officially recognise June 12 as the country’s Democracy Day.
The passage of the bill means the amendment to the Public Holiday Act has been effected in concurrence with the House of Representatives.
With the assent granted to the bill by President Buhari, Nigeria will now observe June 12 as Democracy day.
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