Protecting public school lands

Encroaching on public secondary schools’ land, especially those that are not fenced, has become the order of the day, especially in the South-West.

Various families lay claim to such lands, especially when the real owner(s) of the land are long dead. As a result of this, there have been wars among families. In the past, some mischievous persons sold family lands to uninformed buyers. In the long run, those buyers later bore  the consequences.

Regarding the sale of these lands, some have claimed that there was no signed agreement between the government and the school owners,  and that this made the deal illegal. The question is, why has the government been silent on this matter for so long?

Well, there are rumours that the only reason government has refused to hand over these public secondary schools to private administrators is that it wants to safeguard its interest in their lands, just as there are rumours that the principals of these schools often conspire to sell the lands.

Lands stretching to about a kilometre or more have allegedly been sold off, and are still being sold. The sale of these lands caused various crises and rifts which, one way or the other, had affected residents living in the areas where the schools are located.

These disagreements have often resulted in the use of unusual mediums to manipulate things. People around such areas who have information about the genesis of the issues often refuse to open up out of the fear of the unknown.

Some are in support of the sale of these lands. Their grouse is that ever since the said lands lay fallow, they had become criminal hideouts. Another question is whether government should reclaim the lands.

If yes,  what is the guarantee that it would develop the lands as extensions of the public schools? It still remains the responsibility of the government to defend the public schools.

Ibukun Adenuga

Ibadan