Nigeria Public Holidays 2026
Nigeria has 12 national public holidays in 2026, starting with New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and ending with Boxing Day on 26 December 2026. Five well placed days of leave buy 22 days away from work in 2026, because five holidays sit exactly one working day from a weekend.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| Id el Fitr | Friday | Public holiday2 days | |
| Good Friday | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Easter Monday | Monday | Public holiday | |
| Worker's Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Id el Kabir | Wednesday | Public holiday2 days | |
| Democracy Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Islamic New Year | Tuesday | Public holiday | |
| Birthday of Muhammad (Mawlid) | Tuesday | Public holiday | |
| Independence Day | Thursday | Public holiday | |
| Christmas Day | Friday | Public holiday | |
| Boxing Day | SaturdayWeekend | Public holiday |
- Status
- Set in lawThe calendar is set in standing law rather than announced year by year, so 2026 needs no separate publication.
- Last verified
- The newest check behind a Nigeria entry, against the source named in the corrections log.
- Source
- date-holidays open dataset (ISC and CC BY 3.0), with 2 corrections applied to Nigeria. See what we changed.Always confirm official dates with a local authority before booking travel. How these calendars are built. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it.
The busiest stretch is April (2 holidays), a good window to plan around if you rely on offices, banks or schools being open. One of them falls on a weekend in 2026, so it is worth checking whether that day is made up during the week. Below you will find the full 2026 list for Nigeria, sorted by date, with the weekday marked for quick planning. Only nationwide public holidays are included here, which keeps the Nigeria calendar clean and comparable.
Frequently asked questions
How many public holidays does Nigeria have in 2026?
Nigeria has 12 national public holidays in 2026. The first is New Year's Day on 1 January 2026 and the last is Boxing Day on 26 December 2026.
What is the first public holiday of 2026 in Nigeria?
The first public holiday of 2026 is New Year's Day, which falls on 1 January 2026.
When is New Year celebrated in Nigeria in 2026?
In 2026, New Year's Day in Nigeria is on 1 January 2026.
Are regional holidays included for Nigeria?
No. This calendar lists national public holidays only, so it stays consistent across countries. Holidays that apply to just part of Nigeria are listed separately on the Nigeria holiday hub, together with the regions that observe them.
Do the Nigeria holiday dates change from 2026 to the next year?
Some of them do. Six of the 12 holidays in 2026 sit on a moving rule (islamic (hijri) calendar and linked to easter), so their date has to be recalculated for every year. The rest keep the same calendar date and only change weekday. Moving ones this year include Id el Fitr on 20 March 2026, Good Friday on 3 April 2026 and Easter Monday on 6 April 2026, plus 3 more.
How far ahead is the Nigeria calendar actually fixed?
Through 2027. The holidays are set in law rather than announced year by year, so the dates repeat predictably. What can still change is a law amendment, a one-off holiday declared for a national event, and the exact day of any holiday on the Islamic calendar, which is confirmed by moon sighting. This table also applies 2 corrections to the underlying open dataset, each checked against the legislation. The full list with sources is on the Nigeria holiday hub.
Which Nigeria holidays are regional, and which move?
The table above is the national calendar for 2026. Some holidays keep the same date every year while others are tied to Easter, to a lunar calendar or to a named weekday, and some parts of the country add their own days off. The Nigeria holiday hub breaks that down: which holidays are fixed, which move and why, and which ones are observed in certain regions only. To compare Nigeria with other countries in the same year, see the 2026 worldwide overview.
Other years for Nigeria
Planning further ahead or looking back? Compare the Nigeria public holiday calendar across years:
Plan around the Nigeria 2026 calendar
Knowing the dates is half the question. The other half is what they add up to: which of them create a long weekend and how many working days the year leaves. The 2026 worldwide overview compares every country on holiday count and weekend overlap, and the country index ranks all 44 of them. The same figures are available as JSON, and the dates as a calendar file.