Ogun plans August 14 Worship Centres Reopening, Schools to Resume August 4

Share the News
Obiajulu Joel Nwolu

The Ogun state Government plans a conditional approval for reopening of places of worship  across the state from August 14, 2020 in absolute compliance to COVID-19 safety guidelines.

The state government also disclosed that schools will resume August 4,  for students preparing for the recently approved senior school certificate examination organised by West African Examination Council (WAEC).

In a chat with journalists on Wednesday in Abeokuta, the state capital, the Ogun State Governor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun said his administration took the decision to reopen schools and worship centres after diligent consultation with relevant stakeholders.

He acknowledged the effort of League of Imams and Alfas as well as the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for standing on the side of government throughout the process.

Abiodun said that his administration’s consultation with critical stakeholders in the education sector has received beneficial recommendations.

“In line with the federal government resolutions, exit classes-strictly SS3 only (public or private schools), will resume classes on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Then, there will be a two-week revision classes to prepare the SS3 students for the commencement of the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) slated to start on Monday, 17th August, 2020,” he
clarified.

The governor also said that he was ready to invoke the appropriate section of the statute book, which prescribed a six-month jail term on anyone caught not wearing the facemask.

“We have continued to engage the leaderships of the two religious bodies, as represented by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the League of Imams and Alfas on the modalities for the reopening of the religious houses. And, we thank them for their understanding, support and solidarity.

“We now have guidelines for the reopening of our worship centres jointly developed and agreed with our religious leaders. This was finalised after collaborative and inclusive meeting with the religious institutional representatives and made available on Monday, July 27, 2020. It is in our collective interest to fully comply with the guidelines so that, together, we can further flatten the curve of this pandemic,” the governor said.

He further listed conditions agreed upon for reopening religious worship centres to include that all worshippers must wear their face masks appropriately (that is, No facemask, No entry); adequate provision of alcohol-based sanitiser, which must be used before and after service and that Muslims congregants must perform ablution at home before going to the mosques “with their personal praying mats”.

Source: Thisday

This post was written by Obiajulu Joel Nwolu.

The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *