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John Adams, Minna
Christians in Niger State defied appeals by the state government and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to limit large public gatherings, as they held normal church services across the state with full attendance by worshippers.
All the churches visited by our correspondent within Minna metropolis and its environs witnessed full attendance of worshippers despite warnings by the government that religious bodies should discourage gathering of its members of more than 50 at any particular place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) which has become a worldwide pandemic.
For Muslims, it was business as usual on Friday in mosques across the state as worshippers met and observed their normal Friday prayers.
Our correspondent observed that precautionary health measures like handwashing and use of hand sanitizers recommended by the state Ministry of Health were completely ignored during Friday Muslim prayers and in all the churches visited on Sunday.
The churches visited are those in Sauka Kafuta, Kapgungun, Chachanga, Tunga, Bosso, Maikunkele, all in Minna town, while reports from churches in Bida, Suleja and Kontagora indicates that it was business as usual.
It was also observed that in terms of sitting arrangements, social distancing rules were not adhered to as worshippers were seeing sitting shoulder to shoulder.
While some churches in Bida brought in medical personnel to speak on measures to protect against contracting the virus – the NCDC reporting 27 confirmed cases in the country – others preferred special prayers against its further spread.
Members of some of the churches who spoke to our correspondent said they went to church because the Niger State Government had not banned religious gatherings of any kind in the state.
“The state government has not banned church gatherings, that is why I went to church today. And besides, there has been no case in the state, so we are safe,” the worshipper told our correspondent.
Meanwhile, the Niger State Government said that it has not banned religious gatherings but only advised worship centres to discourage gatherings of more than 50 at a time.
The Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane said: “As at when we briefed the press on Friday, there were no cases reported in Abuja which was why we didn’t ban religious gatherings.
“But for now, we will put stricter measures. We are yet to ban religious gatherings, we are still monitoring the situation and we have asked them to adhere to strict sanitary hygienic measures.
“We have also advised that these gatherings should not be more than 50 people and they should make sure there are sanitizers, water for members to wash hands and if there are face masks, the members should wear them.”
Matane further said that the state may get to the point where there might be a ban, “if the cases escalate, we may implement the ban but for now, we are still monitoring and there is no ban yet on religious gatherings in Niger state.”
