Religion
Reopening of worship centres: Cleric advises religious leaders to obey govt. order
Pastor Timothy Olajide of the Christ Glory Church, Ilorin, has advised religious leaders in Kwara to ensure compliance with the government directives as worship centres set to re-open on Friday,
Olajide gave this advice on Thursday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria .
NAN reports that the Kwara Government had on Wednesday, announced the opening of worship centres from Friday with some safety conditions to guide worshippers.
“We, as leaders, must lead by example. Be you Pastor or Imam, and both the Church and Mosque executives must enforce members’ cooperation by doing what is expected of us.
“We have waited for long to witness the re-opening of worship centres. Thank God our prayers are answered. Let us not abuse the privilege by violating government order.
”I urge religious leaders to ensure that members obey government safety directives.
“Members’ safety should be our priority. There is no need spending time during services. Let us just do the necessary things and avoid repetitions,” he said.
NAN reports that the conditions highlighted by the state government were that each attendant should observe one metre away from the next person.
Also, each worship centre should make provision for hand washing sanitisers, and infrared thermometer.
The government has also made the use of face masks mandatory for all worshipers and there should be no hand shaking or hugging among them.
Other conditions are; children remain restricted from worship centres, people above 65 or persons with underlying health conditions should stay away.
For Muslims, they should perform ablution from their own house while the women are to stay away from Mosques.
The government also directed every worship centre to dedicate a few minutes before service or prayers to educate attendants about COVID-19 and its dangers.
It directed worship centres to adequately ventilate, as Response Team would conduct random visits to take samples and do temperature checks among others.
NAN, however, reports that the Kwara Government, has vowed to hold any religious leaders responsible for non-compliance with all COVID-19 related safety measures in their worship centres.
The leadership of religious communities agreed that any worship centre that violated these provisions would be shut and its leadership strictly held accountable.
