From Magnus Eze, Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu, Obinna Odogwu, Awka, Okey Sampson, Umuahia, Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki and Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
In the olden days, the Igbo never preserved the body of their dead ones to last for more than two days before burial. What was done then was to immediately bury the dead and maybe prepare for the funeral ceremony later if need be depending on the status of the person that died. Then there were no commercial morgues, the dead was embalmed at home.
But all these took a new turn majorly after the civil war when mortuaries started to spring up.
Consequently, burial became a major project in Igbo land, leading to people spending lavishly on funerals as if they are in competition with one another.
Gradually, it became a way of life for lands and other property to be sold to fund burials in the Southeast just as many people borrow to ensure they give their beloved ones what they term a befitting burial.
For those who have the wherewithal, burial ceremonies are opportunities to flaunt their wealth.
There is no better way to depict how the Igbo perceive burial than the definitive Nollywood film: “Died Wretched,” made by ace filmmaker, Kenneth Nnebue of NEK Videos.
The film which featured some of Nollywood’s best – Eucharia Anunobi, Tony Umez and others, is about a man, who died poor, but was buried in a N2.5 million casket by his wealthy nephew.
Literally, befitting burial represents a funeral expense that is as lavish as it is flamboyant if not ostentatious. It is a funeral rite that essentially drains the purse of the bereaved family.
According to Onah Stan, in a recently circulated treatise on social media, entitled: “Befitting or be-galling burial?”, it would not be wrong to deduce that what is understood as befitting burial correlates with the degree of wastage during the event.
For him, the Igbo seem to have a culture that fetes the stone dead at the expense of the needy living.
He said: “The phrase ‘befitting burial’ is inherently twisted, fundamentally flawed, customarily crazy and even semantically sick. It is lexically incongruous to deploy the adjective ‘befitting’ for a lifeless, insensate, unfeeling carcass. A bemusing oxymoron it is at best. Even if it’s part of the cultural legacies bequeathed to us, shouldn’t we tweak it in line common sense? Culture is both dynamic and organic. It should evolve, grow and adapt to reflect society’s dilating discernment and sophistication.”
The foregoing is actually the position of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the college of bishops and clerics in Igbo land; the Anambra State Government and recently, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The IPOB in August placed embargo on extravagant burials in the Southeast, alleging that the wide practice in the area is a disservice to the land.
A statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, lambasted the practice of keeping bodies in mortuaries for long and spending big on burial, adding that traditionally it should not take more than three days to bury a deceased in a manner devoid of grandeur.
The secessionist group also threatened a clampdown on mortuaries.
“After some thorough investigation, we have come to the realisation that all the reasons given by our people which caused the unnecessary delay in burying our dead within a short period are neither cogent nor important enough. These reasons are all man-made mostly monetary conditions from the bereaved families, traditional rites, churches and Umunna.
“Our people have turned burial into a carnival and asking families to pay levies or debt for their dead ones. This is an abomination and must be stopped forthwith.
“As it was in past, bereaved families should be allowed to commit their dead ones to mother earth while a date for the burial ceremony is fixed for a later date as well as whatever levies that need to be collected.
“But using reasons of non-payment of burial levies to stockpile corpses in the mortuaries is what IPOB doesn’t want again in our territory. Our people should revert to our old healthy tradition of burying the dead and do the needful at specific times within their reach.
“IPOB will engage church leaders, town unions and traditional rulers and Umunna on this regard. We are advising them to prepare their minds on this clarion call because IPOB will develop a strategy of curtailing the excessive use of mortuary in our region.
“This strategy may include compelling the shutdown of so many mortuaries littered all over our land. The only dead bodies that can be allowed to stay longer in the mortuary are those in court or under police investigation,” Powerful stated.
Recall that the Anambra State government in 2019 made a law regulating burial expenses.
The bill was sponsored by the member representing Anaocha II Constituency, Charles Ezeani. It provides that in the event of death, no person shall deposit any corpse at the mortuary or any other place beyond two months from the date of demise, while burial ceremonies in the state shall be for one day.
It also stipulated that during burial and funeral ceremonial activities, the family of the deceased shall provide food for their kindred, relatives and other sympathizers at their own discretion while it places a ban on destruction of property, gun shots, praise singing, blocking of roads and streets during burial ceremony.
The bill also made it clear that from the commencement of the law, no person shall subject any relation of the deceased person to a mourning period of more than one week from the date of burial ceremony, stating that defaulters shall be punished according to the law.
One of the proponents of the law against expensive burial and funeral rites in Igbo land and Anambra in particular is the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor.
The bishop at the public hearing by the House Committee on Information, Culture and Tourism on the issue, said that the extravagance displayed by the people during funeral ceremonies in the state had reached a point that necessitated an effective legislation to control the excesses.
“I have seen families sell their real estates, property, and personal belongings, in order to meet up with the expectations of society as regards funeral expenses.
“Businesses have folded up, marriages have broken down, children have been out of school, and sudden deaths have been recorded, simply because people could not wriggle out of the devastating effects of the huge expenses incurred during the funerals of their loved ones,” Bishop Ezeokafor lamented.
The bishop banned the production of brochures in the Catholic Diocese of Awka, with effect from May 1, 2017, just as he, sometime in 2018, banned priests and religious faithful from cooking and sharing souvenirs during burial of their relatives, all in a bid to reduce the cost of burial and funeral ceremonies.
However, many have seen the recent policy of the Anambra State Signage and Advertisements Agency regarding pasting of posters and billboards as another way of cutting cost of burial in the state.
The government announced that families who want to organise social events such as weddings, parties, funeral rites and others would have to pay some levies to the government if they wished to print posters or banners to announce such events.
The levies run up to N100,000 for a specified period of time. And among those who will pay the levies are bereaved families who may want to paste obituary posters in any part of the state.
In a memo by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the state signage agency, Mr Odili Ujubuonu, to the leadership of the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU), he said that the levies were intended to stop people from defacing the environment.
Ujubuonu said: “Because this is a phenomenon that is associated with all the communities and villages in Anambra State, we hope to administer this process in partnership with the town unions. It is our wish that the town union will take up the responsibility of informing the villages and hamlets.
“Others to be informed are kindred, churches and any such bodies within their towns that from the 1st of November, 2022, the agency will begin the enforcement and collection of levies on all such posters and flex used for any of such ceremonies. We have written to you because we have always regarded you as progress partners in the development of Anambra State.”
As expected, reactions followed the stories that trended, suggesting that it was targeted at mourners.
But, the state Commissioner for Information, Paul Nwosu, stepped forward with a statement clarifying that the governor had not introduced a levy of N100,000 for the display of burial banners and posters across the state.
“It needs to be brought to the notice of the general public that the Anambra State House of Assembly had back in 2019, long before the coming to power of Governor Soludo, enacted a law, vide Anambra State Burial/Funeral Ceremonial Control Law, 2019, that came into force on the 9th of April, 2019.
“In line with the Signage Structure of the extant law, Ujubuonu had only written to the National President of ASATU to ensure that the town unions work in concord with the government as per burial and funeral ceremonies and dues.
“The dues, according to Ujubuonu, are graded thus: “4 X 6FT N5,000 for two weeks; 8 X 10FT N20,000 for two weeks; above 10FT square are N100,000 monthly; and N5000 for posters for two weeks.
“It is, therefore, not true that Governor Soludo slammed a N100,000 levy on anybody in Anambra State.
“Truth is that anybody who wants to erect a billboard for the burial of a loved one ought to do that through an accredited member of Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) and pay the requisite rates,” Nwosu explained.
Nonetheless, some stakeholders in the state described Soludo’s directive as a step in the right direction.
One of them, Mr Paulson Okeke, said: “That bill, since it was passed, the previous government did not implement it to the letter. Then this present government came on board and had to dust it up, looked at it and is trying to put it in force.
“It is in order. Why it is in order is that let us try to checkmate what we are doing here. We are Igbo. Expensive burials have taken away the culture of burying the dead and moving on with our lives.
“Today, when somebody dies, they take them to the mortuary, print posters, sew uniforms which they call ‘ashebi’; doing all manner of things to bury a man who died of hunger.
“A man whom nobody purchased medicines for while he was sick, you now spend millions to bury him. Why wouldn’t the relatives spend this money to save his life?
“Why wouldn’t the children give the man or woman food when he was alive? But the moment he dies, they spend money painting their house. Perhaps, that was a man who didn’t live in a painted house.
“In most cases, there was no house. The woman lived in a thatch house. But as soon as she dies, her son living abroad will come back and take her to the mortuary; spend about six months to build a house so that his father or mother will lie in state there. Is it not wrong?
“If he had that money to build that house, why didn’t he do it when that man or woman was living so that he could live in that house before he died; perhaps, entering that house could have prolonged his or her life.
“So, for the government to have put these measures; I will call them containment measures, it is in order. But we can say, maybe it is high. That’s one area, maybe the government has to take a second look.”
CAN, Ahamba seek legislation
For the Chairman of the Imo State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Divine Eches, expensive burial is induced by individuals who according to him, do not want to be seen as being unable to do what others have done in burying their loved ones.
Eches noted that the situation is pathetic and needs God’s intervention.
He also called for legislation from the other state Houses of Assembly in the South as obtainable in Anambra State.
“The so-called befitting burial ceremony is an act of showmanship and competition by the families of those who could not even take care of their loved ones when they are alive, there should be moderation in everything, and to stop this, I believe every state should adopt its own method that suits it through their various Houses of Assembly,” the CAN boss stated.
A cleric, Rev. Jonas Ike, noted that it was ignorance that made Christians indulge in lavish burial, and called on the churches to take steps to ensure that their members understood God’s standards, follow them, including being humble and moderate in whatever they do.
Also, legal luminary, Chief Mike Ahamba who described the development as disturbing urged that there should be a general intervention involving the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the church to discourage the act.
Ahamba said: “It’s a bad development and disturbing phenomenon, it was not the case before, this is not Igbo culture and needs to be discouraged.
“People don’t see it as a waste of resources anymore, after burying the deceased, people don’t go, they open their stomachs for food. The church has tried in the past to stop it and I believe they should not relent, if all the clerics from different dominions come together to enforce the rule against it, it would be curtailed.
“Of course, it would be resisted, but they should apply more stringent measures, for example, after officiating a burial, the cleric should force everybody to go, it only needs courage. The traditional rulers can also help to enforce certain laws that will discourage such extravagance.”
In Ebonyi, Cletus Obasi, a retired headmaster from Isu in Onicha local government area of the state told Sunday Sun that the cost of burial ceremony increased rapidly with the advent of mortuary.
“Burial ceremony especially one of a prominent personality has always been very expensive considering the items needed for a befitting one.
“But what actually increased the cost was the coming of morgues where bodies are kept for as long as the family wants before burial.
“It was not like that when we were young. The practice then was immediate interment as soon as the person dies. Then, the actual burial ceremony will start.
“But now, it is no longer like that. So, when you put the cost of mortuary, and that of the necessary items, it becomes heavy such that poor families will not be able to afford it.”
Obasi called for proper regulation of burial ceremonies, adding that no amount of money put in for burials will bring the dead back to life.
In Abia State, the traditional ruler of Akanu, Okpulo-Amano autonomous community in Obingwa LGA, Eze Okezie Agalabu and others also condemned the high cost of burials in the state.
Eze Agalabu said: “Some people live in dilapidated houses when they are alive, but immediately they die, their relations would start renovating his house. At times, when a person was alive, he may not have even had a home of his own, but immediately he dies, his relations will start erecting a building for him, preparatory for his burial and I see that as ‘medicine after death’, to me, it has no meaning”.
The monarch said that it is always better to celebrate one when he is alive, instead of when he is dead, the relations will spend several millions of naira for his burial, which he described as waste.
But his counterpart of Nara in Nkanu East Local Government of Enugu State, Igwe Ifeanyichukwu Ogbu opined that expensive burial has become part of the people’s way of living.
According to him, no rule of force can stop it, instead, communities should discuss the issue and appeal to the conscience of the people to see the danger of plunging oneself into debts after burial.
“We may have to cut down on the cost, but you cannot eradicate the cost of burial. People believe so much that when you are dead, you join your ancestors and they do this with all the glamour and what come with it. It is an African thing, just like the old Egypt where people die and they are embalmed and assumed to join their ancestors and then embalm and made mummy.
“Ndigbo from time honours the dead, they revere their dead. But it should be what people who have the means can do, not for someone to finish burial and go hungry. It’s not something that is across the line, but people should do according to their capacity because becoming hungry after burial is the worst thing to happen,” Ogbu counselled.
Proffering solution, Ogbu noted that previous effort by the Enugu Diocese of the Catholic Church stipulating burial of members within one month of death did not work as their relations would report that they were not ready after the period.
He, however, said: “Some villages now after assessing you; tell you not to exceed your capacity, it is an advice, it is not what you can stop anyone from doing; because if you tell him not to do the burial of his father or mother the way he wants, it becomes a big problem. It is something that you will gradually encourage the people to reduce the cost of burial.”
National Coordinator, The Professional Christian Youth Leaders Forum Nigeria, Dr Emeka Ejim also backed the call for legislation by government to curb the menace.
Ejim urged the Ozo title holders to be mindful of what their family members would encounter when they die, saying: “They should place a limit to what can be done when they are gone. The youths should also know that no one gives you trophy for over spending in your parent’s burial. The future and economic situations are staring at you. Your kids need better living standard.”
Regardless, Onah Stan reasoned that as commendable as the move to curtail burial cost had been, the implementation was anything but serious.
According to him, people still find ways of going for the grandest gigs in the name of befitting burial.
So, the issue should not be about legislation or public policy enforcement.
He said that “it should be a level of autochthonous discernment by the people to appreciate how twisted, if not inane it is to severely suffer oneself to execute a party whose object is utterly and eternally oblivious of. More so, anthropologically and culturally, deaths ought to excite lurid and languid emotions, not a boisterous gallivanting.”