- Lagos night club owners desperate to get their business back and running
- Lagos government calls for caution with COVID-19 still looming large
- Lagos night club owners vow to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines
Night club owners operating in Lagos have pleaded with the state governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, to consider the reopening of their businesses, with a promise to strictly adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols.
Representatives of owners within the state made this call when they visited the leadership of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in Alausa, Ikeja, over the inactivity in the sector since the state-wide lockdown was imposed last year,” EKO HOT BLOG gathered.
The Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, empathised with the night club operators, stressing that the state government understands the pains, the financial losses and the employment threat which the inactivity in the sector could have generated.
She however did complain about the inability of practitioners to come together for ease of interaction and exchange of correspondence, saying that the night club owners do not belong to any umbrella body or recognised association known to the ministry.
This has made it a herculean task for the ministry to relate with them, while also accommodating their position on some salient issues as it affects their operations.
Akinbile-Yussuf expressed the fear of another surge in the reported cases of COVID-19 and as such the state government cannot lose their guard in the proactive steps taken to combat the deadly virus.
Adenike Adedoyin-Ajayi, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry has expressed the willingness of the state government to keep the club owners in business, sadly for the COVID-19 outbreak.
“You are a major contributor to the State’s GDP, most importantly the night economy of Lagos,” she said.
“It’s our desire to allow you to operate so that you can continue to perform your civic responsibilities, but the situation we found ourselves in was unexpected, hence the position of the state government.”
In an appeal, Toyin Sonoiki on behalf of the club owners, pleaded with the governor to consider their plight, their dependents as well as the welfare of thousands of their staff, with a pledge to submit their operations for regulation under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
He said: “We have continued to pay our staff and still pay some other statutory bills in spite of the fact that we have shut our businesses since a year ago; to say that we’re running at a loss is even an understatement, that’s why we’re pleading for consideration from the government.”
The night club owners promised to work together with the government to identify clubs not complying with COVID-19 protocols, stressing that the state government should not compromise the security of lives and property of residents in the state.
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