Report officials demanding money for safety compliance certificate, Lagos tells event centre owners

Lagos State government yesterday said event centres, cinemas, restaurants and social clubs should not pay to anyone to get Safety Compliance Certificate for the reopening of their centres, as it is offered by the state government free of charge.

The Director-General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola stated this while addressing journalists on the reopening of religious and social centres in the State.

He said if any agents of the state government or persons asked for money to get the Safety Compliance Certificate, such persons should be reported to the government through the whistleblower numbers.

“Organisations that don’t have a safety compliance certificate should proceed with their registration as it does not hinder their chances of getting a provisional safety compliance certificate.”

He said the process for online registration with the agency would not take more than five minutes to complete. He added that over 1000 social and event centres had applied and their registration had been processed, with each registration process completed under five minutes.

Mojola asked that religious bodies should comply with all the guidelines rolled out by the state government for the reopening of worship centres.He further said his agency would be collaborating with security agencies to move round to ensure compliance.

He stated that government would not tolerate disobedience to the guidelines, imploring churches and mosques to put in place appropriate Coronavirus safety protocols.