FACT CHECK: Does next week have longest ‘weekend’ as claimed?

A post circulating on Whatsapp claimed that next week would be the longest ‘weekend,’ starting from Friday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 4. 

The post stated that Sunday, May 1 is Workers’ Day, but implied that being a weekend, a public holiday would be observed on Monday, May 2.

It further declared May 3 (Tuesday) and 4 (Wednesday) as Sallah celebration holidays. This message has been shared on several WhatsApp groups.

Verifying the claim

First, declaration of national public holidays is exclusively done by the federal government. As of the time of filing this report, the government had yet to declare any of the dates in the viral message as public holidays.

However, going by past records, the federal government had declared working days as public holidays whenever the historic events being marked fell on weekends. Therefore, it is very likely the government will declare Monday a public holiday.

Sighting of a new moon marks the end of Ramadan which could be 29 or 30 if the moon (Shawwal) was not sighted after the break of 29th fast. Ramadan will be 29 on Saturday, April 30.

So, if a new moon is sighted Saturday evening, it means Eid-Fitr will hold on Sunday. In the event that a new moon was not sighted, Ramadan fasting would be 30 and Monday automatically becomes Eid-Fitr which attracts two days’ holidays.

While Monday and Tuesday will most likely be declared as public holidays, it is however not clear whether the federal government will declare Monday for both Workers’ Day and Eid-Fitr or earmarks Wednesday as the second day of Eid-Fitr holidays.

This fact check was done in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).