On Friday, the Oyo State Government wielded its authority by closing down a branch of Christ Life Church located in Golden Estate, Oluyole, a precinct within the Ibadan South-West Local Government Area.
Abdulmojeed Mogbonjubola, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, shared this information in the state capital, Ibadan.
Pointing to the ministry’s persistent efforts to mediate between complainants, residents, and the church management on noise pollution, Mogbonjubola stressed the imperative nature of the taken action.
He said, “The state government was left with no other option but to seal off the church premises to avert preventable escalations of brewing tensions between the residents and the church on Sunday.”
The commissioner stressed that officials of the ministry on receipt of several complaints from next-door residents to the church, over the incessant noise, through official letters and phone calls, visited the area, on Thursday, November 9, 2023.
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“The team recorded the sound level of the church activities at intervals, starting from praise and worship, with an average reading of 74 decibels.
“The action of the church contravened the Extant Environmental Regulations of 2023, Section 58, Paragraph (b) which states that the noise limits for residential areas at daytime must not exceed 65 decibels.
“A resolution meeting was held with the parties in the ministry’s conference room on November 29, 2023, where the church refused to sign the undertaking letter, with the excuse to get approval from its headquarters and report back on Monday, December 4, 2023.
“The state government decided to seal off the church due to the continued disobedience to the regulations,” he explained.
The Oyo State Assembly, in 2017, mandated the Ministry of Environment, Urban Development, and Physical Planning to penalize religious institutions flouting the Noise Pollution Law.