Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of the Common Wealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) held their first services on Sunday since the COVID-19 lockdown started and the outcome was massive.
Kemi Filani recounts that the federal government recently lifted the ban on religious gatherings across the country after an imposed two months ban issued two months ago to curb the spread of Coronavirus.
Having missed attending church for so long, the members excitedly trooped out in numbers to attend the services on Sunday.
From the photos shared online, it can be seen that the church closely followed all the instructions given by the Federal Government on the reopening of churches.
Kemi Filani recounts that the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, during a briefing in Abuja weeks ago had announced the instructions for the reopening of churches thus:
“All places of worship must sign up to full compliance with all aspects of non-pharmaceutical interventions required to protect the public from COVID-19 including but not limited to ensuring the supply of running water and soap, alcohol sanitisers at entry and exit points in all high contact locations including bathrooms.
“Worshippers must sanitise their hands before entry.
“Worshippers must have temperature checks before entry and the supervision and the enforcement of this will be led by the leaders of these facilities.
“Use of face masks is mandatory.
“Strongly discourage all close contacts including shaking hands, hugging, using prayer mats, musical organs, microphones etc.
“The capacity of the facility should be limited to allow physical distancing of at least two meters between persons.
“Facilities should consider the use of cloth or surface markings to guide distancing and people from the same household should be encouraged to stay together.
“Local arrangements will apply to the capacity of these facilities but the most important thing is to make sure that the physical distancing rule applies.
“Local authorities will be advised in terms of areas of hotspots that might require greater restrictions
“Volunteers should be limited to exact numbers needed and none of the volunteers should have underlying medical conditions or be above the age of 55 years.
“Responsibility for enforcement will be with the leadership, church or mosque committees and supported by local authorities including state governments.
“Churches to open from 5am and close by 8pm.
“For churches, each service should be for a maximum of an hour with an interval of thirty minutes in between services to allow time for disinfection.
