Governments spend a lot of money on national celebrations such as national holidays and public festivals.

Some people say the government spend too much on this and they should use this money on other useful things.

Do you agree or disagree?

Public celebrations are of paramount importance in any country because people’s values and culture are attached to it. Some people, however, frown at the huge amount of funds governments put into celebrating such events like national holidays. To this opinion, I strongly subscribe. This essay will cross-examine this subject and climax with a reasonable conclusion.

There is absolutely no doubt that some dates are worth remembering, especially as they serve as veritable tools in transmitting cultural heritage of any nation. Therefore, posterity is reminded of the values a particular country holds dear. Take 15th August as an example, this day is celebrated to commemorate the struggles we went through in securing freedom from Britain. This has helped the modern day youth to realise that freedom comes with a price and should not be taken for granted.

Granted that some festivals are worth celebrating, it is, however, pertinent to note that an alarming amount of money is spent to do so at the perils of other sectors of a country. The money spent on a single day to mark an event can easily be channelled into other areas like health and education that will have a greater impact on the lives of the citizens of any country. To illustrate this point, consider Nigeria, a country that spent 250 billion US dollars on celebrating her ‘National Democracy Day’. This amount of money is twice that needed to transform its health sector which is in complete shambles. Spending so much money is thus not beneficial when a country has other grave needs yearning to be met.

In a nutshell, I strongly agree to the fact that although certain dates serve to transmit culture and are worth marking, the cost of doing so should be reduced so that other areas of the country’s economy can grow.