Burial plots in Nigeria's major cities are becoming unaffordable, forcing families to settle for crowded and makeshift cemeteries outside the city.
In chaotic cities nationwide, dying is just as risky and more expensive as living. And for the majority that unfortunately dies wretched, the cost of cemetery spaces is competing with those of residential apartments. The alternative is public burial grounds that give no guarantee of finding the remains weeks after interment.In chaotic cities nationwide, dying is just as risky and more expensive as living.
Martins’ experience is not any different from the encounter of many in cosmopolitan cities like Lagos. In those major cities nationwide, prices of burial plots are rising and becoming unaffordable to give the departed a befitting place of rest. Unfortunately, most graves of these public cemeteries are overfilled and the sand that is supposed to cover the remains is never available. Thus, people are confronted with a heavy stench oozing out from newly buried corpses.
The cemetery also contains the largest concentration of the Second World War II graves in Nigeria, numbering about 411. Although the number of available grave plots cannot be ascertained, it is broken into sections, with one being for ‘all-comers’ and the other reserved for private use and the rich. There are also plots for small budgets.
Apart from paying for the tomb, families may also incur expenses on the slab and bricks, ranging from N750,000 to N1.7 million. Also, in Ojodu-Berger, Lagos, a plot of land is between N10 million and N30 million per plot depending on how strategically located the land. In Ikoyi, land prices can be as high as N150,333 per square metre, while in Yaba, prices can be as high as N75,655 per square metre.
“Burial plots in dedicated burial grounds constitute a special land use, whose profile is fundamentally different from any other form of land usages in both rural and urban centres, due to cultural, regulatory and spiritual reasons. “This will command special prices as you find in other types of products. Where a society is also becoming increasingly affluent, the prices people can afford to pay for burial plots begin to rise as compared to where there is a sharp decline in societal prosperity.
He said public cemeteries have become a shadow of themselves while in some places they do not even exist. “A nation that fails to care for its retirees, what miracle do you expect when such people pass on? As a matter of urgency, state governments should take over the management of our public cemeteries. Yet, we still have people living around a place like Atan cemetery. If those living there are not evacuated, it may not be long before we face a terrible epidemic that will be difficult to contain.
The ATOPCON president said governments should allocate more burial sites, and create more cemeteries and plan them. Adelu said: “We should, therefore, give dignity to the remains of the dead. The majority of public cemeteries are over 50 years old, especially in Lagos and Ibadan. Sadly, we create many housing estates; yet, we aren’t bothered about what happens when those in those estates die. Businessmen, who create them to make a profit, should champion the establishment of new cemeteries.
Enugu-based town planner, Chime Ogbonna, said in many parts of Eastern Nigeria, the dead are buried within his/her hitherto living environment and not in the cemetery. Unless the master plan approach is adopted in the physical development of cities, every cemetery will suffer either a planned relocation or forced takeover as it may be regulated by the changing values of land.
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