By Ejiofor Toochi Cynthia
Recently, the public criticized Polaris Bank, one of Nigeria’s commercial banks, for requesting that a Muslim employee refrain from praying on Fridays while at work. People arrived at the conclusion that there had been a violation of religious freedom and contempt for Islam as a result of the leaked mail addressed to the employee.
Polaris Bank did, however, in a statement say that they respect their employees’ right to practice their religion,”…there is no policy in the Bank that forbids staff from practicing the religion of their choice; hence the said staff had acted in ignorance and we have since addressed the issue internally…”
This incident raised discussions about whether companies that forbid employees from praying during working hours are engaging in religious bigotry. It’s believed that employees have the right to take prayer breaks, although companies may not wish to accommodate it because of work schedules and expectations. “They are supposed to know that life is based on religion. You can’t stop anyone from praying,” Miracle Ndubuisi affirms.
While many may contend that a company should respect a person’s faith and their right to pray during office hours, others view this as highly unprofessional. A student who’d rather remain anonymous stated, “I don’t feel it’s religious intolerance. I don’t see the logic in suspending your work to pray, it’s wrong in a professional setting. It is not at all productive to be engaged in other activities while working.” To most firms, when a staff abandons their work to pray, it shows negligence on their path.
Chimmuanya Ukpai, on the other hand, believes it is more suitable to either ask one’s superior for permission or wait until break to pray.
