The Rivers State government has approved COVID-19 guidelines for marriages and weddings with N10 million penalty to be paid by defaulters.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Paulinus Nsirim, said the guidelines were approved by the State Executive Council at a meeting chaired by Governor Nyesom Wike.
He said prospective couples would be required to apply to the governor through the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation.
He said such application must be accompanied with information of the venue of the ceremony, names, addresses and phone numbers of expected guests, for ease of contact tracing.
He said henceforth, those seeking to bury their deceased would also be expected to include in their applications the names, addresses and phone numbers of those to attend such funerals.
Nsirim said government would not grant approval to any application without names, addresses and phone numbers.
He said marriages would not have more than 50 guests, including family members, who must wear face masks and adhere strictly to the social distancing of not less than two metres.
According to him, while church weddings must be conducted between 9am and 12 noon, traditional marriages would be conducted between 4pm and 7pm.
The commissioner said venues of marriages must have provisions for running water and soap at three points and the venue duly decontaminated after the event.