Enugu Catholic Church restricts burial attendance to family members

• Coalition raises the alarm over imminent water shortage

The Enugu Catholic Diocese has ordered the restriction of burial attendance to family members of deceased persons, just as Bishop of the Diocese, Reverend Callistus Onaga, said the measure was aimed at curtailing the spread of Covid-19 in the state.

Onaga advised persons planning social activities including weddings should either postpone the event or restrict it to family members, stressing, “Whatever can’t wait should be restricted to the immediate family members of the concerned persons.”

He urged parish priests and chaplains to increase the number of services to reduce the numbers of attendance for each mass, adding, “No Sunday Mass should last over 45 minutes, while weekday Mass should not last over 30 minutes and without preaching.

“In all services, handshaking, hugging and other signs of social contact would henceforth be suspended until further notice and only three or four persons should be in each seat, depending on the length of the seat.”

Onaga also directed that Holy Communion should be received by hand and asked the priests to instruct members on how to receive communion, stressing that priests and other Catholics outside Enugu should not visit for the Easter season.

Besides, alarmed by the rising cases of Coronavirus, a coalition of non-governmental and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Enugu yesterday asked the state government to increase residents’ access to water as part of measures to contain the spread.

At an awareness walk to mark the year 2020 World Water Day (WWD) in Enugu, they lamented that only 10,000 residents have access to clean water, stressing that it was dangerous, as hand washing and good hygiene could only be done with water.

But the state government said it had procured a development loan of $50 million from France to improve generation, distribution and sustainable water supply in the state, explaining that the residents would start witnessing improvement in water supply before the end of June.

Country Director of the Global Society for Anti-Corruption, Mrs. Amaka Nweke, told reporters during the awareness walk that a state with millions of residents was endangered were only ten thousand had access to water with the rising pandemic.

Speaking on the theme of this year’s WWD, “Water and Climate Change,” Country Director, Hope Spring Charity Foundation, Temple Oreke stressed that changes in climate had adversely impacted the availability of water.

He stated that Nigerians should pay greater attention to water conservation so as to save the scarce water resources in the country.

Special Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Water Resources, Anthony Dubem Onyia said the state government had declared an emergency on water supply and improvement in the state, stressing that apart from the town hall meeting he held, an 18-man action plan had been set up and assured that the state would witness an improvement shortly.