Much ado about reopening worship centres

The recent outcry by various people about the reopening of worship centers in Nigeria is very appalling and uncalled for. It is a pure reflection of selfishness, insensitivity and lack of sound reasoning and judgment of situations.

Sometimes, such baseless outcry calls for a critical evaluation of our value system and if there is likelihood that we may be losing touch with humanity.

Some folks, especially many of the religious leaders are angrily clamouring for the reopening of worship centers. They even argued that if people can be allowed to go to the markets, then worship centers should be no different. On the one hand, the social precautions that we all take when going to the markets would totally be flouted in our religious centers; on the other hand, it will be very difficult for religious centers that have small buildings with large worshipers to observe social distance.

Some people are clamouring for the reopening because they believe their worship centers are large enough to observe social distance rules. These people are selfish. Some are clamouring for the reopening because they believe that the government is deliberately silencing the churches or mosques. For this set of people, such reasoning is highly beclouded. Such stance only worsens the present predicament. Worship centers should still remain closed until the whole world is able to contain the pandemic.

How serious are we even taking the fact that school children are still at home and the end to the sit-at-home situation seems not to be in sight as more cases are being reported daily all around the country? We have a dysfunctional education sector whereby virtual pedagogy is possible for only few private schools across the nation. What should be the lot of public school children and others who are unable to afford the cost of online platforms?

How much do we appreciate our health workers who are at the forefront of the pandemic? Doctors, nurses, hospital auxiliary workers, cleaners, security agencies, essential commodity sellers and many others are also included. Some of them have lost their lives after contracting the virus during the discharge of their duties. Some others have tested positive simply because they wanted to save those affected. Sadly the personal protective equipments (PPEs) are not enough. They daily take extreme risks while we stay safe at home.

This is a passionate appeal to the common man, the ordinary Nigerian to be wary of some dubious religious leaders who are much more passionate about a filling their pockets and not so much about the welfare of their followers. If the government through careful consideration finds out that it is safe to open up worship centers, it will no doubt do so. This is the time to believe in the teachings about the omnipresence of God and the resort to seek divine intervention until the coast is clear.

Akintunde Ishola, isholaakintundey@gmail.com

 

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