By Laolu Elijah

Ibadan—The Oyo State government has pleaded with the leadership of a church that shares a boundary with St. Paul’s Primary School, Odo Ona, Ibadan to stop leasing the school’s open land as burial sites.

The appeal was made, yesterday, by the Executive Chairman, of Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Nureni Aderemi Adeniran, during a monitoring exercise of resumption in the State.

At the school, located in Odo-Ona, Ibadan, the chairman and his team noted that the church, apart from encroaching on the available space, built graves close to classrooms.

Adeniran said beyond the space left for the school, the presence of the cemetery on school premises is an issue the board cannot live with.

He said: “It was gathered that the church that shares land space with the school just started encroaching on the school space, leasing the available land as a burial ground.

“Hence, it is unfair that the siting of the school and its pupils did not matter to the church, making the school and the burial site share a very close boundary.

“In one of the classrooms, a look through the window by the pupils would mean a look into the world of the dead because of the proximity.

“For a school that has a functional cemetery as its neighbour, that means witnessing burial rites has become a part of the learning process for the pupils.”

Adeniran, therefore, instructed the Education Secretary, Ibadan South-West, Mrs. Morenike Adeniran and other Local Government Universal Basic Education Authority staff members to meet with the Vicar of the church.

Efforts to speak with the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Edafe Bright, were not successful as calls and text messages sent to his mobile line were not replied to at press time.