Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna sae, says markets, churches, and mosques remain closed in the state despite the guidelines released by the Federal Government on the reopening of worship centres in Nigeria.

This was contained in a press statement by Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser to the Governor, on Media and Communication, on Tuesday.

The statement noted that the government has started engagements with business leaders, and began receiving recommendations from some religious leaders on the subject of safe re-opening of places of worship.

The statement said, “The Kaduna State Government has not reopened markets or places of worship. These public spaces were closed in March 2020 as the state stepped-up Covid-19 prevention efforts.

“As announced last week, relevant government agencies will engage the business, community, and religious leaders to discuss and agree on the protocols for the safe opening of businesses and market, and resumption of congregational worship.

“Kaduna 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.

Kaduna has its own well-articulated roadmap for reopening, and this was published last week as a public document for the views and inputs of the citizens of the State. That is why when it extended the Quarantine Orders by two weeks on 26th May 2020, it also announced steps to ease some of the restrictions. These included increasing lockdown-free days to three and allowing approved businesses and facilities to open on those three days.”