Lagos, 19 June, 2020 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
The decision by the leadership of Nigeria’s State of Lagos to put on hold the reopening of places of worship “till further notice” has disappointed the Catholic Archbishop in the country’s largest city who says that precautionary measures had already been put in place and that worshipers would be safer in “Church premises than in other public places such as markets and motor parks.”
“The recent announcement by the Lagos State Government, suspending the planned reopening of Churches for public worship has left us with a feeling of utter disappointment and bewilderment,” Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos Archdiocese has said Friday, June 19.
“We had been engaging the Government and acting in concert with other Christians in the Christian Association of Nigeria on what we need to do,” Archbishop Adewale recalls in this statement obtained by ACI Africa, adding that the people of God under his care were looking forward to celebrating Mass.
In the statement, he highlights the “stringent” precautionary measures he had spearheaded “towards the gradual restoration of public Masses in order to ensure the safety of our people. All the parishes had started working to make the Church premises safe for worship following the guidelines later released by the government.”
Archbishop Adewale’s “disappointment” follows the declaration by Lagos State Government Tuesday, June 16 to indefinitely suspend the planned reopening of places of worship that had been slated for Friday, June 19.