In Nigeria, there’s a troubling pattern of abandonment of family members stays in morgues, pushed by the rising prices and societal expectations surrounding extravagant funerals. This phenomenon has led to overcrowded mortuaries, as households usually prioritise lavish send-offs over correct burials. With some corpses languishing for years, the results of this dilemma are stark, GODFREY GEORGE writes
For 18 months, Prince Chibundu couldn’t lay his father to relaxation. The excessive chief had handed away quietly. As daybreak broke on a heat morning in Might 2019, his physique succumbed to the merciless grip of a stroke.
A person who as soon as strode the corridors of accounting companies, working as an authorized accountant, he later turned his again on spreadsheets and audits to embrace the traditional throne of his ancestors.
However whilst his spirit left this world, his household discovered themselves paralysed, trapped by custom and torn by the insidious pursuit of a grand, “befitting” funeral.
What ought to have been a interval of mourning and reflection swiftly turned a battlefield of wills. Chibundu’s household—his mom, Chioma, and his father’s three different wives—discovered themselves on opposing sides of a cultural tug of struggle.
His mom, pragmatic in her grief, proposed a easy burial two months after the chief’s loss of life, reasoning that they might honour him later with a lavish remembrance ceremony when funds and feelings had been in a greater place.
However the different wives, pushed by the load of ancestral expectations and the calls for of kin, vehemently disagreed.
“It was an actual wrestle,” Chibundu recalled, his voice heavy with the reminiscence. “I used to be nonetheless in class on the College of Abuja, making an attempt to give attention to my research, however the household battle consumed me.”
His cellphone rang incessantly. His mom would name, her voice low and strained, pleading with him to return to Imo State and assist her make sense of the chaos.
However Chibundu’s elder sister, who was residing overseas on the time, begged him to remain away. She feared for his security, warning that tensions had been operating excessive and that an try to intervene may result in violence.
The prince was caught in a whirlwind of conflicting feelings—torn between obligation to his household and the haunting chance of hazard. The combat, nevertheless, was not nearly timing or household rivalries; it was about standing and delight.
Chibundu’s father, although modest in life, had accrued vital wealth and properties. But, in loss of life, these belongings turned a secondary concern.
What actually mattered to the prolonged household was the spectacle of the burial. The person’s soul, they believed, would discover no peace with no ceremony worthy of his standing, a grand show of energy and opulence that will fulfill the ancestors.
“They wished a burial that individuals would speak about for years,” Chibundu defined, his voice rising bitter. “It wasn’t about honouring him—it was about exhibiting off.”
Then got here the request that shook him to his core. Someday, shortly after ending his third-year exams, Chibundu acquired a name from his uncle. His voice was calm, nearly businesslike.
“I want you to get entry to your father’s financial institution accounts,” his uncle had stated, barely hesitating. “We’ll want at the least N20m for the burial. You might be his first son. You have got the cash; give us!”
Chibundu, shocked, stared at his cellphone. The determine was staggering, the request much more so. “N20m? For a burial?” he recalled asking, and his uncle’s voice was stern. It was N20m or nothing.
“I known as my mum instantly,” Chibundu recounted, nonetheless sounding incredulous on the reminiscence. “She informed me to remain out of it. She stated we would have liked that cash to outlive now that my dad was gone. How may they count on us to throw all of it away on a single day?”
The household’s calls for grew extra outrageous with every passing week. The elders, of their fervour for a “befitting” burial, took issues into their very own arms.
With out warning, they seized the chief’s physique and transferred it to a authorities morgue in a neighbouring state, out of attain of the speedy household.
For months, the corpse of the once-revered man languished in chilly storage, held hostage by custom and household delight.
Regardless of tearful pleas from Chibundu’s mom and siblings, the physique was saved from them, cloaked in secrecy and held below the iron grip of the elders.
Chibundu’s household may do nothing however watch. Because the months slipped away, the load of grief turned heavier with every passing day.
It wasn’t till the police intervened, alongside one other revered monarch, that the corpse of Chibundu’s father was lastly launched from the grip of custom. Eighteen months after his loss of life, the chief was lastly laid to relaxation. However even then, peace was elusive.
“The burial was superb, by all requirements,” Chibundu stated, his voice gentle with the exhaustion of recounting the previous. “However my uncles weren’t glad.
“They complained that we didn’t slaughter sufficient cows, that we didn’t carry out sure rituals, that the goats we used weren’t enough.”
Chibundu paused, frustration evident in his tone. “They stated if we didn’t do these items, my father wouldn’t have a clean journey to the spirit world.”
And so, a person who had spent his life serving his group and household, who had risen from accountant to excessive chief, had his last moments on earth marred by battle.
Ultimately, his burial was not about celebrating his life or grieving his loss of life, however in regards to the spectacle, in regards to the calls for of a practice that left his household fractured.
Chibundu’s story shouldn’t be remoted. Throughout Nigeria, particularly within the South-Jap area, households discover themselves trapped within the grip of age-old customs that demand elaborate and costly funerals.
In a rustic the place poverty price is rising, many are pressured to decide on between day by day survival and the cultural obligation of a grand burial.
For some, this ends in months—generally years—of storing their family members in morgues, ready till they will collect sufficient cash to fulfill societal expectations.
Morgues throughout the nation are starting to overflow, as households, strapped for money, go away their family members’ our bodies unattended for prolonged intervals.
The burden of custom weighs closely on these left behind, turning grief right into a monetary and emotional nightmare. Within the race to offer a “befitting” send-off, the humanity of the departed—and the sanity of the residing—is usually forgotten.
In a quiet voice, Chibundu mirrored on the ordeal that just about tore his household aside.
“My father was a superb man,” he stated. “He deserved peace. However in the long run, we gave him a funeral for the residing, not the useless. And that’s one thing I’ll always remember.”
Corpse held for 15 years
Earlier than his passing in March 2004, Chief Felix Odinukaeze, a revered patriarch from Umumbaneto Village within the Isi-Mgbidi Autonomous Group, Oru West Native Authorities Space, Imo State, expressed only one want—to be buried within the basis floor of his uncompleted constructing mission.
A husband to 3 wives and father to quite a few youngsters, Chief Odinukaeze had lived a full life.
His success in enterprise and his fame as a former Nigerian Postal Service worker made him a pillar of the group, proudly owning huge properties, together with a number of enterprise premises across the bustling Orlu junction.
However after his loss of life, his household was thrown into disarray. His dying want, easy because it appeared, would stay unfulfilled for 15 lengthy years as a bitter dispute erupted amongst his youngsters.
The foundation of the issue was one among his sons, who, it was stated, refused to present his approval for the burial, stalling all efforts.
The late chief’s physique lay deserted within the morgue for over a decade, wrapped in layers of household discord, authorized battles, and monetary burdens.
Because the years handed, Odinukaeze, a person who had nurtured his household and supplied them with wealth and safety, remained in limbo. No grave was dug, and no farewell was stated.
He was left suspended between life and loss of life, a sufferer of the very household he had cared for dearly. His physique, nonetheless unburied, turned a silent witness to the devastating results of unresolved household feuds.
Rumours circulated within the village that that son (identify withheld) had left the nation, leaving his father’s physique within the mortuary as he pursued his personal life abroad. Some stated the household was ready for his return, whereas others whispered of authorized problems.
The reality, it appeared, was buried as deeply because the unresolved grief inside the household.
One factor was clear: the household’s refusal to behave had taken a toll not solely on them however on the hospital the place their father’s physique was saved. The proprietor of St. Felix Hospital, Dr Felix Iwudibia, had saved the late chief’s physique for 15 years and incurred vital losses within the course of.
“After a number of entreaties to the household to return and take away the corpse of their father failed, I used to be compelled to institute a authorized motion in opposition to the household,” Dr Iwudibia defined, recounting the prolonged court docket case he had filed in opposition to the Odinukaezes. Regardless of the authorized battle, no decision got here shortly.
Lastly, on April 29, 2019, a stunning flip of occasions occurred. The household, after 15 years of inaction, settled their N1.4m hospital invoice and took their father’s physique for burial.
It was a second of each reduction and remorse. One of many late chief’s sons, Leonard, defined the deep ache the household felt over their father’s extended keep within the morgue.
“Our father took superb care of his household. He sacrificed every little thing for us, left us with a legacy of wealth and property, however sadly, we couldn’t give him the respect and dignity he deserved in loss of life,” Leonard lamented.
In accordance with him, efforts by the household and group leaders to bury the late chief had been repeatedly pissed off by his eldest brother, Emeka, who insisted that their father’s uncompleted constructing be completed earlier than any burial may happen.
“Our father’s final want was to be buried within the basis of the storey constructing he was developing earlier than his loss of life. Sadly, as a result of controversy stirred by our eldest brother, we had been unable to grant that want.
“We had no alternative however to bury him on the outdated home,” Leonard revealed with a heavy coronary heart. “Most sarcastically, Emeka didn’t even attend the burial.”
Ultimately, the household’s long-standing grief culminated in a last act of closure.
The as soon as full of life patriarch, who had waited 15 years for a correct burial, was lastly laid to relaxation in April 2019.
Although the burial didn’t observe his final want, it introduced some peace to the household. Leonard expressed his gratitude to Iwudibia for slashing the hospital invoice from N1.8m to N1.4m after their pleas.
Deserted father’s corpse for 9 months, squandered N2m
In September 2023, within the quiet city of Awgbu within the Orumba North Native Authorities Space of Anambra State, the age-old traditions of burial and inheritance took a darkish, unsettling flip.
Uchenna (surname withheld), a younger man estranged from his late father, discovered himself within the crosshairs of the legislation after allegedly squandering N2m raised for his father’s burial.
As if the lack of the funds weren’t sufficient, the physique of his father had been deserted in a mortuary for over 9 months, left to the mercy of time as cultural expectations and greed intertwined.
The story started lengthy earlier than his father’s loss of life. Uchenna, born to his father’s ex-wife, had been disowned after a bitter household battle that led to his estrangement. For years, he was absent from his father’s life, by no means contributing a dime in the direction of his care and even visiting throughout his illness.
When the elder, Anadumaka, handed away, it was his second spouse, Lovina, who had lovingly tended to him in his last days. She was there, at his facet, in illness and grief, navigating the trials alone.
However loss of life, like a silent thief, usually brings the worst of human nature to the fore. The second her husband’s breath left his physique, Uchenna returned, all of the sudden showing from the shadows.
He, alongside his aunt, Chinelo, started to put declare to his father’s property. Chinelo, the youthful sister of the deceased, had her personal troubles.
Not too long ago divorced, she had returned to her father’s compound in Awgbu, burdened by her failed marriage and the load of bitterness that adopted her. Her presence within the house turned a supply of torment for her personal mom, Maryrose, who suffered common abuse at her arms.
Chinelo, in response to a number of sources who confided in our reporter, was no stranger to violence. Years earlier, it was stated, she had employed thugs to assault her former husband in Abia State, an act that led to their eventual separation.
Since then, she had taken possession of great parts of her household’s property, subjecting her aged mom to harassment, even calling vigilante officers on her.
Now, emboldened by Uchenna’s return, she directed her venom towards Lovina, her brother’s widow, stripping her of every little thing she had left after her husband’s passing.
In accordance with Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, Public Relations Officer for the Anambra State Ministry of Girls Affairs and Social Welfare, Chinelo and Uchenna colluded to take possession of the deceased man’s ATM playing cards, cell phones, and homes in each Delta State and Awgbu.
They started gathering lease from tenants residing in these properties, ignoring the grief-stricken widow who was left behind with nothing however her tears.
Lovina, who had sacrificed every little thing to look after her husband in his last days, discovered herself all of the sudden destitute, pressured to beg and borrow simply to fund his burial.
As phrase unfold via the group, the story grew extra grotesque. Uchenna, entrusted with N2m to organise his father’s burial, reportedly squandered your entire sum.
He may supply no coherent rationalization when requested what had occurred to the cash and with no funds left to cowl the burial bills, his father’s physique remained deserted in a mortuary for 9 months.
Akinwunmi’s case
Taiwo Akinkunmi, the esteemed designer of Nigeria’s nationwide flag, was laid to relaxation in Ibadan, Oyo State, after a year-long wait.
His funeral service occurred on the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium and was attended by varied dignitaries, together with members of the Oyo State cupboard, former lawmakers, and representatives from the safety companies, in addition to members of the family and college students from his alma mater.
A consultant of the Oyo State Authorities on the burial, Bayo Lawal, emphasised Akinkunmi’s nationwide significance, stating that his burial ought to have been a matter of federal concern quite than solely the accountability of his household and the state authorities.
Lawal highlighted that Akinkunmi epitomised a nationwide icon whose contributions to the nation needs to be honoured appropriately, each in life and in loss of life.
Overflowing morgues
The will for a “befitting” burial—an occasion steeped in cultural delight and household honour—can generally overshadow the very humanity such traditions are supposed to uphold.
Households, like that of Uchenna Anadumaka, are left fractured, not solely by the grief of loss of life however by the bitterness of inheritance battles, the corruption of custom, and the misguided pursuit of wealth and standing.
As morgues throughout Nigeria proceed to fill with the our bodies of these caught on this wrestle between outdated customs and new wishes, the nation is pressured to ask: at what level does the price of custom develop into too excessive? How lengthy should the useless anticipate peace, whereas the residing squabble over the spoils of their passing?
The subject of deserted corpses in Nigerian mortuaries as a result of delayed burials touches on deeply ingrained cultural, financial, and social points.
In accordance with a examine revealed within the Worldwide Journal of Intercultural Relations, burial rites in Africa are sometimes seen as the ultimate alternative to point out respect to the deceased, which may immediate households to delay burial till all funds or assets can be found to fulfill group expectations.
In Nigeria, it is not uncommon for our bodies to be saved in morgues for prolonged intervals, generally for years, as households wait to lift funds for lavish funerals or resolve disputes.
The cultural demand for grandeur in burial ceremonies not solely locations emotional pressure on households but additionally creates public well being considerations, as many mortuaries are overwhelmed by the variety of our bodies they home.
A 2020 article by The Dialog highlights what number of mortuaries throughout Africa wrestle to deal with such conditions, resulting in overcrowding, poor administration of stays, and extra charges for households.
The delay in burials is usually exacerbated by household disagreements. In the end, whereas the cultural significance of burials in Nigeria can’t be understated, the growing burden on mortuary amenities and the monetary toll on households have sparked conversations in regards to the want for extra sensible and sustainable approaches to honouring the useless.
UUTH’s case
In 2023, the Chief Medical Director of the College of Uyo Instructing Hospital, Prof. Emem Bassey, addressed the rising drawback of deserted corpses within the hospital’s mortuary.
In accordance with Bassey, a few of the corpses of their morgue have been left there for over 15 years.
He emphasised that many households may not even bear in mind that their relations’ our bodies had been delivered to the mortuary, particularly in circumstances the place the police had been concerned, additional complicating the identification course of.
One other key purpose cited for this abandonment is the excessive value of burials, notably in states like Akwa Ibom and Cross River, the place funerals are sometimes elaborate and costly.
Bassey proposed the potential for conducting a mass burial for these unclaimed our bodies, stating that it was unfair to go away corpses unburied for such prolonged intervals.
He additionally criticised the societal norm the place households, notably these of decrease earnings, are pressured to spend closely on burials as an alternative of supporting their relations whereas they’re alive.
LUTH
The Lagos College Instructing Hospital confronted an identical scenario in 2021, the place 124 corpses, together with 99 youngsters, had been left unclaimed of their mortuary.
Most of those deceased youngsters had been unregistered sufferers, referred to LUTH as a result of problems arising from childbirth at conventional start houses.
Many of those youngsters had been left within the morgue by their mother and father, a few of whom had probably died throughout childbirth or had been too impoverished to assert their youngsters’s stays.
Regardless of LUTH not charging charges for storing the our bodies of kids, the corpses continued to build up. The hospital issued a discover to the general public, giving members of the family 4 weeks to assert the our bodies or face a mass burial.
A guide pathologist on the hospital, Dr Martins Momoh, defined that these circumstances are notably tragic as most of the youngsters had been by no means claimed, highlighting a scarcity of correct identification and communication between sufferers’ households and the hospital.
Within the occasion the our bodies weren’t retrieved, the hospital deliberate a mass burial, which added to the establishment’s burden of sustaining the physique’s long-term.
Okoye varsity’s public enchantment
In a separate case, the Vice-Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye College, Reverend Father Professor Christian Anieke, made a public plea in 2024, urging households to return ahead and determine the corpses that had been deserted within the college’s educating hospital morgue. A few of these our bodies had been within the morgue for as much as 18 years.
An order from the Enugu Excessive Courtroom permitted the hospital administration to hold out a mass burial if the corpses weren’t claimed inside 21 days.
This announcement was a part of a broader effort to renovate and improve the hospital’s mortuary facility, which had been overwhelmed by the variety of deserted our bodies.
Anieke expressed that the difficulty posed a major problem for the hospital and the encompassing group, and a mass burial would permit the establishment to proceed with much-needed renovations.
In the meantime, the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu College Instructing Hospital in Amaku-Awka, Anambra State, additionally struggled with a mortuary crammed past capability with unclaimed our bodies.
By mid-2024, the hospital administration introduced its choice to hold out a mass burial for corpses that had been deserted since 2014.
The establishment’s Public Relations Officer, Henrietta Agbai, acknowledged that the Anambra State authorities, led by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, had authorised the disposal of those unclaimed corpses.
The hospital issued a public discover, calling on households to return ahead and declare the our bodies inside one month.
Positioned in a busy space with frequent emergencies as a result of highway accidents and gunshot accidents, the hospital’s mortuary usually receives unidentified corpses from these incidents, including to the overcrowding drawback.
UBTH
In Might 2024, the College of Benin Instructing Hospital in Edo State additionally confronted an awesome variety of unclaimed corpses.
The hospital’s mortuary companies coordinator, Dr Ehizogie Adeyemi, revealed that 270 corpses had remained unclaimed, together with 201 infants and 69 adults.
Most of the households who had initially supplied contact info to the hospital had been unreachable, making it tough to inform them in regards to the scenario.
The hospital administration issued a six-week ultimatum to households, giving them an opportunity to assert the our bodies earlier than a mass burial would happen.
The hospital expressed the necessity for the general public to know that the buildup of unclaimed corpses not solely places stress on the mortuary but additionally poses logistical challenges for the ability.
Enugu, Anambra burial legal guidelines
Each Enugu and Anambra have enacted legal guidelines aimed toward streamlining burial ceremonies, guaranteeing affordability, and stopping the buildup of corpses in mortuaries. Nevertheless, the implementation of those legal guidelines, regardless of their intentions, has not been with out controversy.
In Enugu State, the mortuary tax was just lately clarified as not being primarily a revenue-generating measure however quite a way of discouraging the extended storage of corpses.
The state’s Inner Income Service, via its Govt Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Nnamani, famous that the tax is derived from the Beginning, Deaths, and Burials Legislation Cap 15 of Enugu State, revised in 2004.
This provision mandated a charge of N40 per day for corpses saved past 24 hours in mortuaries.
Nnamani emphasised that the tax was not exorbitant, as some experiences had falsely advised a N40,000 charge, however merely a nominal N40 day by day cost.
This tax is levied on mortuary house owners, not the deceased’s members of the family, although the associated fee is usually handed on to households when retrieving our bodies for burial.
This regulation happened to deal with considerations over mortuaries being overcrowded with unclaimed our bodies, a pattern spurred by both unresolved household disputes or the need to attend for sufficient assets to conduct a grand funeral.
In accordance with Nnamani, the tax encourages well timed burials, stopping corpses from piling up in morgues. That is notably essential in a context the place, culturally, some households might wait years to lift funds for a “befitting” funeral.
Soludo’s enforcement
Anambra State’s method is extra centered on lowering the monetary burden of burial ceremonies and discouraging elaborate and extended funeral practices.
The Anambra State Burial/Funeral Ceremonial Management Legislation was enacted in April 2019 below former Governor Willie Obiano, however present Governor Charles Soludo has been a vocal advocate for its enforcement.
The legislation goals to average the excesses of burial practices within the state, which had lengthy been criticised for imposing a heavy monetary toll on households.
Soludo, throughout the funeral of former Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife in 2024, publicly condemned the extravagant nature of the ceremony, highlighting the way it violated the legislation.
He criticised the show of opulence on the occasion, which was in direct contradiction to the statute’s intent.
The legislation contained a number of provisions designed to chop prices and simplify burial procedures.
As an illustration, corpses can’t be saved in mortuaries for greater than two months, and funerals, together with condolences, should happen in a single day.
Furthermore, the legislation restricts the variety of undertakers to 6 and outlaws the usage of billboards, posters, and second funeral rites.
Regardless of these laws, enforcement has been problematic. Whereas Soludo expressed his willpower to uphold the legislation, violations persist, with residents persevering with to host elaborate funeral ceremonies.
The governor acknowledged that the legislation predates his administration, however confused that adherence to the legislation was important for making a sustainable, economically manageable apply round burials within the state.
There had been no arrests or prosecutions associated to the violation of the legislation since its enactment, elevating questions in regards to the authorities’s capability to completely implement these laws.
Socio-cultural, financial context
In Nigeria, the apply of lavish funerals deeply intertwines with socio-cultural and financial dynamics, resulting in a troubling pattern of deserted corpses in mortuaries.
Households usually prioritise ostentatious send-offs over dignified burials, leading to morgues overflowing with unclaimed our bodies.
This case underscores a posh interaction of cultural expectations, monetary pressures, and societal values.
A senior sociologist, Dr Chieze Okezie, acknowledged that cultural traditions in Nigeria place immense significance on how the useless had been honoured.
He added that funerals aren’t merely a ceremony of passage, including that they’re public shows of respect and standing.
Okezie stated, “These overflowing morgues in Nigeria are a stark manifestation of a society trapped within the grips of custom and the relentless pursuit of social standing via funerary practices.
“The interaction of socio-cultural values and financial constraints compels households to desert their family members’ stays, highlighting a urgent want for a cultural reevaluation of funeral practices.
“Addressing this difficulty requires a collective effort from communities, students, and policymakers to redefine the narratives surrounding loss of life, dignity, and the true essence of honouring a liked one’s legacy.”
In accordance with Professor Abiola Irele, a scholar in cultural research, “In lots of Nigerian communities, the burial of a liked one is a mirrored image of the household’s social standing. The extra extravagant the funeral, the extra respect the deceased instructions in loss of life.”
This phenomenon drives households into monetary turmoil, as they usually resort to loans or the sale of belongings to fund elaborate funerals that meet societal expectations.
The financial context additional complicates this difficulty. Nigeria’s socio-economic panorama is marked by stark inequalities, the place many households wrestle to fulfill primary wants.
As identified by Professor Kola Abiola in his analysis on socio-economic impacts on cultural practices, “Whereas the need to uphold custom is robust, many households discover themselves in precarious monetary conditions, resulting in choices that go away the deceased’s stays unclaimed in mortuaries.”
This disparity highlights a tragic irony: the pursuit of social respectability via elaborate funerals usually ends in neglecting the deceased’s last resting place.
Furthermore, the rising pattern of unclaimed our bodies prompts a deeper reflection on societal values.
As households delay burials in pursuit of the ‘good’ funeral, they inadvertently contribute to the degradation of the deceased’s dignity.
Professor Olufemi Babatunde, who studied the moral implications of burial practices in Nigeria, argued that, “The neglect of correct burials speaks to a broader societal failure to prioritise human dignity, each in life and in loss of life.”
The difficulty of deserted corpses in Nigeria’s educating hospitals displays a broader societal and financial problem.
Whereas households may not pay attention to their relations’ deaths or are unable to afford burial prices, the hospitals are burdened with the monetary and operational prices of sustaining these our bodies.
In response, many hospitals have turned to the choice of mass burials to deal with the rising variety of unclaimed corpses, urging households to assert the our bodies or threat shedding the chance for a correct and dignified burial.
The mixture of cultural norms surrounding burial and the excessive prices related to funerals contributes to the complexity of the difficulty throughout a number of states and establishments in Nigeria.
One other sociologist, Professor Iheriohanma Ekeoma, on the Federal College of Know-how, Owerri, Imo State, advised that the cultural weight positioned on burial ceremonies contributed to the apply of conserving our bodies in mortuaries for prolonged intervals, generally years.
“Households might go into debt to finance extravagant funerals, which embody massive gatherings, costly caskets, feasts, and multi-day occasions. These societal pressures are at odds with the federal government’s push for extra modest and well timed burials,” he added.