The full opening up of Lagos for business is gradually gaining more momentum with the recent directive by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu that event centers in the hospitality and tourism industry in the state can now re-open for business. This was disclosed by the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf during a live Instagram session tagged “Ensuring Effective Health Safety and Environment Management System in Hospitality Industry- Post COVID-19”. She however stated that before any event centers will be permitted to open in the state, they must have met the necessary requirements of its newly introduced Register-to-Open initiative. 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.
“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.”
