The Benue State government has declared Friday of every week a work free day to enable civil servants in the state to go and work on their farms.
Benue, known as the “food basket of the nation”, made the declaration following the approval by the 16th session of the state executive council meeting on Thursday, chaired by Governor Samuel Ortom.
In a statement issued in Makurdi, the state capital, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Chief Odeh Ageh, explained that the idea was aimed at assisting as many workers as possible in the state to produce enough food to feed their families in the face of the current economic downturn, which has affected regular payment of salaries.
Mr. Ageh said the work free day would commence from tomorrow, Friday, June 10 and would last till the end of July, 2016.
The commissioner also announced that Governor Ortom would proceed on a two-week vacation as part of his annual leave as from Monday, June 13 to work on his farm while his deputy, Engr Benson Abounu, would act in his absence.
