After being closed for about five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ikoyi Marriage Registry in Lagos has reopened for conduct of weddings.

Our correspondent, who visited the marriage registry on Tuesday, sighted people in wedding suits and gowns.

The Marriage Registrar, Mr Adeyemi Adebayo, said the backlog of weddings through the lockdown period was being cleared, as the registry had made provisions that would enable it to conduct 10 weddings simultaneously.

“In line with the COVID-19 protocols, only the couples with one witness each are allowed. We have provisions for hand washing and we tell the couples to bring their hand sanitisers along. We have tables to conduct 10 weddings simultaneously,” Adebayo told our correspondent.

He added that external photographers were barred.

The PUNCH had reported in July that the marriage registry had a backlog of over 4,000 weddings, after it was closed in March as part of efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

When contacted, one of the applicants, who was on the registry’s waiting list in July and spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said he had finally been invited and had been joined with his wife.

“They called me last week and we went to the marriage registry on Saturday (August 22, 2020). Though there was a crowd, only the husband, wife and two witnesses were allowed,” the applicant said.