Call to worship

Editorial

WORSHIP centres in Lagos reopened Friday, last week, for mosques, and Sunday, for churches; after over four months of closure. The centres in Ogun State will follow suit on Friday and Sunday. The centres, like other places, were locked down in March, to curtail further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision as to whether or not to reopen the religious centres had been quite problematic. Even while the lockdown was gradually being relaxed in many other sectors of the economy, those centres, as well as schools, remained shut. The government had dithered over the matter for fear that the centres might not be able to abide by the COVID-19 safety protocols — wearing of face masks, washing hands with soap/sanitiser, gauging temperature and maintaining social-distancing — owing to the sheer largeness of the congregations, especially in mega centres. The same goes for schools; most of them lack the basic infrastructure to observe the protocols. So, government was not prepared to take chances.

Indeed, Lagos State had on June 4 initially announced the lifting of the ban on religious centres and hotels in the state, with effect from June 19. That was a day after Kwara, Osun, Kano and Benue states reopened the centres.  Federal Capital Territory (FCT) toed the line days later.

But on June 16, the Lagos State government made a volte-face and suspended the reopening of those centres, owing to the noticeable spike in the COVID-19 cases in the state. And, as if to vindicate it in its decision to back-track on reopening the centres, the COVID-19 protocols were observed in the breach in virtually all the states that had reopened the worship centres.

Lagos, however, revisited the matter last week, and relaxed the ban. Schools had earlier in the week reopened in many states, to enable exit students write their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), beginning from August 17.

Announcing the relaxation in a statewide broadcast at the Lagos House, Marina, penultimate Saturday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the centres would be allowed to open only once a week, and operate at 50 per cent capacity. Worshippers from 65 years and above were advised to stay away from the services. The standard preventive and control measures, the governor directed, must also be observed. Restaurants are also permitted to have in-dining services with only 50 per cent capacity as from August 14.

For us, however, reopening the religious centres at this time is akin to treading in the dark. We say this against the background of the warning sounded sometime in May by the state government that the COVID-19 pandemic might peak this month. The commissioner for health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, had, at a press briefing warned: “We definitely have not reached the peak of our outbreak; we suspect that the peak will happen sometime in July or August and so, we are preparing for the oncoming of about 90,000 to 120,000 cases during the period.”

So, what is the basis of the suspension of the ban on the worship centres? Governor Sanwo-Olu had explained in the broadcast that the state had seen a gradual decrease of the COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, being the outcome of its response strategy. Really, the increase in the cases since July has not been phenomenal. The figures oscillated between 12,711 in mid-July and 14, 954 by July end, and between 15,043 on August 1 and 15, 355 on August 5.

However, although the current outlook seems promising, we feel that the decision to lift the ban on the worship centres at this time appears hasty, with Lagos being the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.

Apparently, the government has only bowed to pressure because the continued closure of the centres had generated emotive outbursts from many quarters. While some religious leaders were on the same page with the government as it dithered over the matter for safety reasons, many others saw the continued ban as unwise; because, according to them, the religious centres should be part of the solution by taming the pandemic through what they called ‘collective prayers’. But experiences across the globe have shown that such centres themselves are not insulated from the ravages of a virus that is turning an applecart virtually everywhere. Caution is the watchword.  Perhaps, the other justification is that those places alone cannot remain shut forever, especially as other places are being relaxed too. However, having relaxed the ban, it is imperative for government to strictly monitor the worship centres and other places, such as schools and restaurants, to ensure compliance with standard protocols and sanction violations appropriately.