COVID-19 Restrictions Not Designed To Affect Church Offerings – Onochie

Presidential media aide, Lauretta Onochie has declared that the latest COVID-19 restrictions affecting religious gatherings are not targeted at reducing offerings and tithes accruable to churches.

She made the submission in a series of tweets on Tuesday, 22nd December following the fresh COVID-19 restrictions affecting churches, mosques, and all worship centers as announced by the federal government on Monday through the presidential taskforce on COVID-19 headed by SGF Boss Mustapha.

Naija News recalls the government directed that gatherings in worship centres must not exceed more than 50 percent of the capacity of such venues.

It also directed the compulsory use of face masks while physical distancing must be observed in such gatherings.

This comes amidst fears of an impending second wave of the coronavirus disease in Nigeria.

Reacting to the announcement, Onochie said that the decision is in the best interest of everyone and not targeted at any individual person or group.

“This is not an evil government trying to take the joy off of Christmas.

“It’s not a way of denying church leaders their offerings and tithes.

It’s not the government denying us the opportunity of seeing our families whom we have not seen for a while.

“This is not about Islam versus Christianity. Coronavirus has no religion,” she noted.

2. This is not an evil government trying to take the joy off of Christmas.
It’s a matter of life and death.

It’s not a way of denying church leaders their offerings and tithes. It’s a matter of life and death.

— Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) December 22, 2020

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday evening, 21st December 2020, confirmed 356 new cases of Coronavirus disease infection in Nigeria.

The new cases of COVID-19 infection were confirmed via a statement on the official Twitter handle of the health agency.

This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 78,790 which includes 68,483 discharged cases and 1,227.