Gov Fashola signs burning of Dead Bodies into Law

Mixed reactions have greeted the signing into law of the cremation bill by the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola.

The law had given legal teeth to state authorities to burn unclaimed corpses in its mortuaries– after a period of time.

Since the bill was signed into law, Lagosians have been reacting in many ways.

Reacting to the development, Mr Charles Audu, a lawyer, said that the signing into law of the bill was a commendable effort by the governor because it would help reduce the problem of unclaimed corpses.

In fact, it has simply been a kind of mixed reactions trailing the signing exercise. While some residents of the state and participants on an online media, Nairaland, who gave environmental reasons, supported the idea, others who condemned it gave religious and cultural reasons for their opposition to the new law.

Signing the bill into law at an event attended by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeola Ipaye, his Energy and Mineral Resources counterpart, Mr. Taofik Tijani, and other members of the State Executive Council, Fashola was reported to have declared that cremation was voluntary for those who wanted their corpses to be treated so.

The sponsor, Honourable Suuru Avoseh, the Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, representing Badagry Constituency 2, had hectic time getting the bill to be passed.

Those in support of Avoseh included Honourables Funmilayo Tejuosho, representing Mushin Constituency 1, and Mudashiru Obasa, representing Agege Constituency 1.

A lawmaker, Bayo Oshinowo, representing Kosofe 1, opposed the bill till it became law. He warned that the tradition, culture and religions of Nigerians had to be properly considered before embarking on the act, just as he argued that the congestion at mortuaries was due to the negligence of morgue attendants.

Abdulrasaq Olatunji, who represented Muslim lawyers in the state, asked: “If it is true that lands in the state have been exhausted, why can’t the state government liaise with other neighbouring states and ask them to give it land to be used for mass burial?”

The state Attorney-General, Mr Ipaye, who also spoke on the law, said that cremation was just voluntary, adding that it occurred in a situation whereby a person might signify an interest to be cremated when he died or a deceased’s family member who must have attained the age of 18 years could decide to have the corpse cremated.

The president of the Nigeria Medical  Association (NMA), Lagos chapter, Dr Francis Faduyile,  applauded the state governor for taking the bold step in passing the cremation bill into law as it is practised globally.

According to the national president of the General and Private  Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr Anthony Omolola, the passage into law of creating dead bodies in Lagos State was a welcome idea, which had been embraced globally.

Mrs Olaitan Aina, a teacher, said that though the act was not compulsory on all residents, the feelings of the masses should have been considered before its enactment, because nobody would like to see or hear that the corpse of a relative, friend or family member was burnt.

In his reaction to  the new policy, an Islamic scholar, Alhaji Moyashau Abolaji,  told the Nigerian Tribune that the innovation was not supported by Islam. http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/en/news/item/14136-mixed-reactions-trail-lagos-cremation-law.html