Lagos State Safety Commission has opened registration of religious and social centres in the state in preparation for full reopening.

This is in furtherance of the Register-to-Open initiative of the state government, as directed by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the commission said in a release signed by Lanre Mojola, its director-general.

“Further to the directive of Mr Governor with respect to the Register-to-Open initiative of Lagos State government, we hereby confirm that all religious and social centres (social clubs, event centres, restaurants, bars, night clubs, spas, cinemas and gyms) within the state can commence the registration process on the designated portal www.lasgsafetyreg.com immediately,” the release said.

Governor Sanwo-Olu had on May 17, while giving updates relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state, said the government was considering full reopening of the economy, including critical sectors like tourism and hospitality, sporting, event centres, cinemas, entertainment, and religious gatherings. He had also said businesses in these sectors would have to undergo re-registration before reopening and that the Lagos State Safety Commission and Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) would be visiting offices and business premises to assess the level of their readiness to resume operations.

“We are at a level where we are reviewing the other arms of the economy. In the coming days, we will be starting what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centres, entertainment, malls and cinemas will go through a form of re-registration and space management,” Sanwo-Olu had said.

“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their workspaces need to look like.”