Kaduna markets, worship centres remain closed

Despite the lift of ban on worship centres and financial institutions by the Federal Government on Monday, the Kaduna State Government has announced that markets and worship centres across the state will remain closed.

The state government on Tuesday said places of worship in Kaduna were not closed down by the federal government but by the state government in March 2020 as part of its proclamation of the quarantine order in the state.

The federal government’s announcement had been received with a lot of excitement in Kaduna as residents began converging to make daily prayers in Mosques.

However, a statement issued by the Special Adviser to Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye stated, “Kaduna State is not one of the three states and the FCT where the federal government imposed a lockdown. The steps taken to ease such federally-imposed lockdowns in the concerned places should not be construed as the federal government relaxing in all states, conditions that it did not impose in the first place.”

The statement explained that as announced last week, relevant government agencies in Kaduna will engage business, community and religious leaders to discuss and agree on the protocols for the safe opening of business and markets and the resumption of congressional worships.

“Government has started engagement with business leaders and began receiving recommendations from some religious leaders in the subject of safe re-opening of places of worship. However, these consultations have not been concluded,” it stated.