The Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has eased the lockdown order on mosques and churches by ordering that they reopen on June 19 and June 21, 2020.
It should be recalled that the Federal Government lifted the ban on mosques and churches on June 1 in line with the guidelines and protocols agreed with state governments. The reopening of hotels however is left to the state government to decide.
Sanwo-Olu announced this development during a live broadcast while providing Lagos State’s COVID-19 situation report in the state.
He said Muslim services would resume on June 19 while Church services would commence on June 21.
The governor said children under the age of 15 should not be permitted at religious gatherings that were restricted to Fridays and Sundays while elders from age 65 should not go to worship centres.
He said: “Mass gathering during COVID-19 pandemic, can be of serious public health consequences. And there are documented evidence that mass gathering can increase the spread of the virus. And that’s why we will from 14 days time, precisely from the 19th. of June for our Muslim worshippers, from the 21st of June, for our Christian worshipers, we will be allowing all of our religious bodies to open at the maximum of 40 per cent of their capacity, and we’ll be working with them as being expected with the state Safety Commission.
“But we know that places of worship have different sizes. You cannot have beyond 500. And keeping that 40 per cent maximum capacity is really so important. No matter how big worship is, you cannot have more than 500 worshipers at once.
“We’ll be encouraging people to have more than one service and to ensure that they keep their premises clean, disinfect before another round of worship can take place. We’ll also be advising that there should only be mandatory Fridays and Sunday services, all other night vigils and order regular services must be put on hold for now until we review our current situation.
“We ‘ll also be advising very strongly that persons below the age of 15 because of how well they walk around, and how they become difficult to hold down, that they should be excused from the places of worship.
“Citizens that are above the age of 65 should not be allowed in into these places of worship. I mean, these are very important points that we need to re emphasize, because of how we see.”
The Governor added that the State Safety Commission will be on patrol to check level of compliance and that the Commission at its discretion will stop worship at centres where orders are flouted.
He said primary and secondary schools would remain shut as government is still in consultation with every stakeholder in the sector and would come out with guidelines for their re-opening in two weeks time.
