…Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun urges the residents to be cautious as the students in terminal classes resume schools on August 4
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun on Wednesday announced that places of worship will resume religious activities from August 14.
Abiodun who revealed this while updating journalists in Abeokuta, however, said the religious centres must strictly observe COVID-19 procedures and guidelines.
He cautioned that any worship centre that falls short of following the guidelines would be penalised accordingly, saying even the holy books specify obedience to established authorities.
Some of the measures prepared include mandatorily wearing of face masks which failure to do so attracts six-month jail term, sitting two meters apart, provision of hand washing facilities and worship duration of not more than one and half hours.
Others specified measured include that ablution must be observed from home and worshipers must take their personal praying mats, sufficient provision of running water and sanitizing of the premises before and after each service, among others.
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“We urge our religious leaders to ensure that they abide by the measures mutually agreed upon and rolled out.
“As government, we will not hesitate to impose severe sanctions, including, but not limited to, lockdown on any Worship Centre that fails to comply with the laid down guidelines.
“It is important to note that all religions make provision for obedience to God and the authorities of the land.
“Wearing of face masks in the public is now compulsory. Therefore, I hereby invoke powers conferred on me by Regulation 7 of the Infectious Diseases (Emergency Prevention) Regulations No. 2 of 2020 (the Regulations), made pursuant to Section 33 of the Public Health Law of Ogun State (the Law), to mandate the compulsory wearing of face masks by all persons in public as part of measures to prevent the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
“Failure to do so is punishable by up to six months imprisonment under Regulation 8 of the Regulations and Section 68 of the Law,” Abiodun declared.
While speaking on education, the governor ordered that pupils and students in terminal classes should recommence on August 4 in line with the federal government dictate to prepare for their examinations on August 17.
He said Ogun State Government was making available facilities to meet COVID-19 preventive standards and implored private and public schools to fill a Risk Assessment form to assess their readiness before resumption.
The governor, however, said that with the exclusion of students in the exit classes, “all students in our schools would enjoy Automatic Promotion to the next class”.
He further urged all parents, teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector to guarantee the safety of the children, saying the state cannot afford the spread of the pandemic in schools and homes.
The governor also said that Ogun residents should maintain the weekend lockdown until August 14.
