COVID-19: Sanwo-Olu Lifts Ban On Event Centres

The Lagos state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has lifted the ban imposed on event centres in the Hospitality and Tourism industry due to the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, made this known during a live Instagram session on Sunday.

She explained that event centres are free to re-open for business provided they have registered with the state government through its newly introduced Register-to-Open initiative.

The commissioner noted that the initiative was meant to certify the safety preparedness of the event centres before they are allowed to re-open for business activities.

Responding to speculations relating to whether the number of persons allowed would exceed 20 persons, Akinbile-Yusuf, explained that at-most one-fifth of the capacity of the centre should house not more than 500 persons.

She said: “This depends on the size of the event hall, if it is going to one-fifth of the normal occupancy level of each venue, then that is fine but no matter how big the event hall, it cannot occupy more than 500 people at a time, that is what the guideline says.

“This is not about 20 individuals in a building now, what we are saying is that one can have at-most one-fifth of the capacity of the hall. If you have a large event hall that can accommodate as many as 5,000, the maximum one cannot exceed is more than 500 at a time.”

Akinbile-Yusuf added: “We have global guidelines that deal with both social and religious centres but we have specific ones for certain categories.”