The House of Assembly of Anambra State had on April 9, 2019 enacted the Anambra State Burial/Funeral Ceremonial Control Law. The law states that the burial/funeral ceremonies of an indigenous deceased person should commence with the registration and payment of N1,500 to the town Union.
No person shall erect any billboard, banner or posters of the deceased. It only allows for the erection of directional posts. While stating that no directional post shall be erected before seven days to the burial date and should be removed not later than seven days after the burial date.
It provides for the sanction after conviction to be the payment a fine of N100,000 or jail term of six months, or both.
No person shall deposit a corpse in the mortuary beyond two months from the date of death. Any person who contravenes this shall pay a fine of N100,000 or serve an imprisonment term of six months, or both.
No person is allowed to block a road for any burial except with permission from the appropriate Local Government Authority.
No person shall publicly display a casket for the purpose of fabrication and sale in the state, and any person who contravenes is liable to pay a fine of N50,000 or go o jail for one month, or both.
There shall be no second funeral rites after burial except in the case of legacy.
There shall be no wake-keep of any kind for any deceased person in the State. All vigil-mass/service of songs/religious activity for the deceased prior to burial shall terminate latest by 9pm. There shall be no food, drink, live-band, cultural entertainers during and after any vigil-mass/service of songs/religious activity for the deceased.
All Burial/Funeral ceremonies shall be for a day. Burial mass/services shall commence not later than 9am and shall not last for more than two hours.
No preserved corpse shall be exposed for more than thirty minutes.
Undertakers should not be more than six in number and there shall be no undertakers’ display during the burial ceremony.
There shall be no burial on any local market day of every town in the state.
No funeral brochure shall be made except for the Order of Mass/Service.
No person shall subject any relation of a deceased person to a mourning period of more than one week from the date of burial/funeral.
The magistrate court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction over matters specified under the Anambra Burial Law.
This law is critical to instill sanity and modesty in the honour given to the dead in state. It is important to re-emphasize that the law is still in existence and applicable to burial and funeral ceremonies in Anambra State.
Written by SIR PAUL NWOSU
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