By Ishola Balogun, Chioma Obinna, Oghene Omonisa, Samuel Oyadongha, Emem Idio  and Charles Adingupu

The setting was Federal High Court, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. The date was June 22, 2016. The court was already in session as the trial judge, Justice Ajiya Nganjiwa, asked the court registrar to call the next case. The registrar rose up and said “suit number FHC/YNG/C8/51/2016 between the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa Versus 121 Unknown Corpses”. Everyone in the courtroom exchanged glances. What offences could the corpses have committed that the government would charge them to court. Will the prosecution bring the corpses to court or will the corpses have counsel to defend them. Observers were curious about what the case was all about. But their curiousity gave way to relief when they later discovered that the suit, being a motion ex-parte that did not require the presence of the other party.

corpse

Revelations about how Nigerians abandoned corpses of their loved ones in mortuaries are becoming worrisome. Only this year, some state governments as well as the National Hospital, Abuja raised alarm over increasing number of unclaimed corpses in their mortuaries. Consequently, several mortuaries are forced to pile corpses on improvised wooden platforms after embalmment.

Time was when Nigerians were known to have values that are strongly entrenched in their culture and traditions. This was particularly so when it comes to the issue of death. Therefore, if death occurred prematurely, it was perceived as a curse and not disclosed immediately. Similarly, in some cultures, it was unacceptable for the old to bury their young. If a child dies, he is buried immediately and treated as a bad omen.

Older persons do not partake in the burial of a young relative in some tribes. This is predominant among the Yoruba. Also, deaths of young persons are not celebrated among the Igbo. Often, their corpses are not kept beyond a day. They are usually buried almost immediately without any form of ceremony. When any family member dies anywhere in the world, tradition demands that the body be brought home for proper burial. These are examples of how corpses were treated with dignity.

Today, the reverse is the case. It is now common place to find young and single people who died prematurely being celebrated. Even some are kept for months to enable their relatives raise funds for a ‘befitting burial’. The condition of some corpses in mortuaries across the country is dreadfully pitiable. They are unkempt and abandoned. No thanks to the current harsh economic situation which has also made it difficult for the living to give befitting burial to their loved ones.

121 Unknown corpses dragged to court

The congested state of the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, the only federal referral hospital in the predominantly riverine Bayelsa State had been a source of grave concern to the management of the centre. The health facility is located at the densely populated Ovom suburb of the state capital by the side of the Epie Creek, which is also the berthing and take off point for both passengers and cargo boats travelling to and from the hinterland of the state.

The Ovom area also host the Government House, civil servant quarters, the state police command headquarters, the police officers mess, and other security agencies, the Samson Siasia Stadium, the state secretariat complex and several government agencies and parastatals. But lying unclaimed at the morgue of this strategically located health facility are no fewer than 121 corpses some of which have spent over a decade. The management of the hospital, it was learned have been trying their best over the years to manage the disgusting situation.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that this grubby state of affair last month caused the authorities of the hospital to raise alarm over the high number of unclaimed corpses in their mortuary, in the face of severe health and environmental implications which the continued storage of the abandoned corpses is posing to the health of its staff and other members of the public. Disturbed by the lack of space to preserve the dead bodies in the hospital’s overflowing mortuary, the authorities of the medical facility had no choice but to issue a 21 day public notice to members of the public to come and identify the bodies and have them removed or the corpses would be given mass burial.

However, following the expiration of the 21 days’ notice, the hospital approached the Federal High Court in Yenagoa on June 22 for an order to give mass burial to all the abandoned corpses. In a suit number FHC/YNG/C8/51/2016, the counsel to FMC Clement Kpasime in a motion ex-parte brought pursuant to section 33(1) and (2) of the Birth, Death, Marriages etc Regulations 2004 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court, prayed the court for, “an order granting leave to the FMC to cause to be buried, unclaimed, unidentified and abandoned corpses in the mortuary of the FMC Yenagoa”.

Corpses have become threat to human life—Hospital

The Chief Medical Director of FMC, Yenagoa, Dr Dennis Alagoa, had explained that the decision to approach the court was taken to create space in the mortuary as fresh corpses were being brought in on a daily basis. He also cited pollution of the health facility as reason for the decision to evacuate the corpses “We issued a 21-day public notice because we noticed that corpses have littered the entire mortuary and there was no space to take in new corpses. As the decay goes on in the mortuary, the corpses have become a threat to human life because chemical and biochemical effects are ongoing. So, we want to clean up the area so that people can enjoy the benefit of a good site and space to bring in their corpses,” he said. He added that most of the unclaimed corpses were deposited by security personnel while others were found on the road and the rivers and brought to the morgue.

According to him, “A lot of them were corpses that were deposited by the security agents. Most of them are just bones, and legs, they are not actually full body parts. They brought people that died on the road, in the river or those who died from militant activities and just kept them here”

They deserve final resting place—court

In his ruling, Justice Ajiya Nganjiwa ordered that “the FMC Yenagoa, Bayelsa State is hereby granted leave to cause to be buried all the unclaimed, unidentified and abandoned corpses in the mortuary of the FMC. The total numbers of unclaimed corpses are 121 as indicated in the letter dated May 25. The corpses deserved to be given a final resting place. Therefore all bodies, departments saddled with the responsibilities to carry out the assignment should ensure that the order of court is complied with forthwith.”

Mortuaries overflow with corpses

A few months ago at the National Hospital, Abuja, the management of the hospital revealed that about 22 corpses were abandoned by relatives.  It was the same story in Bomadi, Delta state. It was reported that bodies were piled upon one another on improvised wooden platforms after embalmment and abandoned to the vagaries of the weather, day and night.  A relation of one of the deceased persons who related his experience when his father died at Central Hospital, Bomadi said the situation at hospital mortuary was so pathetic that he had to take the corpse of his father to a private morgue in Warri.  According to him, more than 30 corpses were dumped at the gate of the mortuary because there was no more space to take the corpses.

Also in Ikorodu, Lagos state, a mortuary attendant at the General hospital, in the area, disclosed to Saturday Vanguard that they were often overwhelmed by the number of unclaimed corpses which they contend with on a daily basis. He said, “the facilities in the morgue are over stretched. As it is now, we are left with no option than to deposit corpses at any available space, as we pile them on top of one another. In fact, some of the corpses were already decomposing and oozing out offensive odour.

He maintained that the situation encouraged the previous government in the state bring up the idea of cremation saying, “If the government decides that unclaimed corpses will be given mass burial for instance, there will be no space to bury them as government cemeteries are already filled up. In a move to check the reported cases of decomposing corpses in morgues in Ogun state, the state government recently closed down seven hospitals in Ijebu Igbo and five in Ijebu Ode. The exercise was carried out in all the twenty local government areas by the state monitoring team.

The management of the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Oyo state recently conducted mass burial for unclaimed corpses due to the swelling number of corpses some of which had been abandoned for five years according to the UCH spokesman, Mr. Deji Babade. A Pathologist in the hospital who would not want his name in print disclosed the hospital has limited capacity for frozen compartment, as only about 20 corpses could be accommodated at a time, thereby leaving more than 70 corpses unattended to.

The chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (UCH) Dr. Adefemi Afolabi explained that the names of the deceased    were advertised in national newspapers and their families were contacted but they refused to show up. The management therefore had no choice than to give the unclaimed corpses mass burial after all the legal procedures had been duly followed. A security personnel also rationalised the development with the argument that bodies of armed robbers and accident victims might stay a longer time in the morgues because investigation would have to be carried out and of course concluded before such corpses are given to their relatives for burial.

Why corpses areleft unclaimed

The story of the 38 –year- old Mrs Helen Ogwu was a pathetic one. The mother of four children was once cherished by her husband and four children but not anymore. Helen’s lifeless body was abandoned in one of the mortuaries in Lagos, while her family moved on. The last time her children saw her was the fateful day she was rushed to one of the general hospitals, where she died. Her corpse was abandoned in the mortuary, because her once cherished husband could not afford a burial for her. The drama that ensued between the mortuary officials and Helen’s husband leaves much to be desired.

“Please, please, please, don’t start.” Helen’s husband told the mortuary attendant who called him on the phone to inquire when he was coming to pick Helen’s corpse. The mortuary attendant was confused. Helen’s husband said: “If you know the situation I am in now, you will not call me for any corpse. As we speak, I have a swollen leg; my children are at home because I cannot pay their school fees. If you even ask me to come and take it free of charge, I cannot come because I don’t have transport money. Please do whatever you like with the corpse. Please don’t call me again. Do whatever you like with her corpse. I will explain to my children when the time comes.”From that moment, he switched off his phone amidst tears. But Helen’s case is not an isolated one.

Sylvia, who hailed from Edo state died in 2008. Like Helen, Sylvia’s body was also abandoned in the mortuary. Her relations claimed her husband killed her. However, it did not stop at mere accusation. They insisted he must conclude marriage rites and also prove his innocence by drinking the water which was used to bath the corpse of his late wife. “I was ready to pick the corpse but the treatment I received from my wife’s people was not palatable. I was asked to pay a huge amount of money which I don’t have,” he hinted, amid tears rolling down his cheeks. Another example is Raphael whose wife, Joy, was forbidden from bringing his corpse home. Raphael’s relatives claimed that the couple abandoned home for years and detached themselves from the family. Faced with such situation, Raphael’s wife abandoned the corpse in the mortuary and ran away.

Investigation by Saturday Vanguard showed that the stories are the same across the country. Mortuaries are filled with corpses. The media is awash with reports of unclaimed corpses abandoned in mortuaries all over the country. In some cases, corpses are taken to court apparently, to get clearance for mass burial. Further findings revealed that many corpses are left in the mortuaries unclaimed due to accumulated mortuary bills, lack of proper identification of victims, family issues and police involvement among others.

A mortician in one of the Private Public Partnership, PPP, mortuaries of the Lagos State Government, said although cases of unclaimed corpses have reduced following state government’s decision to embrace PPP in most of the state hospitals, there are still many unclaimed corpses in the mortuaries. According to the mortician who does not want his name in print “most mortuaries are now privately owned in Lagos. The menace of unclaimed bodies has been also reduced through the PPP programme. Government has designated Mainland Hospital, Yaba, as a central place where unclaimed bodies are kept to prevent problem of congestion of the other mortuaries.

“There is no way you will set up a morgue and not have abandoned corpses. The first time corpses are brought, they they will pay but after some time, nobody comes again. Thereafter, these bodies will be taken over by the government. If the owners of the bodies finally come we direct them to Yaba. That is also where the government’s crematorium is. “ He added: “Most of the bodies, after sometime, are also given mass burial or cremated and the ashes are either buried or kept in different bottles and labeled. “But with my experience over the years, the major reasons why people abandon these corpses are because of financial incapacitation, unresolved family issues, marriage disputes, fear of police involvement, accidents, robbery cases, among other reasons”.

The mortician who lamented the difficulties in getting people to pick their corpses said: “When they are not financially buoyant, it is difficult to get them to come for their corpses. We don’t usually have problems with the initial payment, but the problem lies with subsequent payments. When they found out that they have accumulated so much money, they change their telephone lines and addresses.

“Again, we have problems with people who did not visit their villages for long before their death, who therefore become separated from their families. When they die, no family member will come. Even when we eventually trace the family, they will give you excuses such as ‘he never came home when his parents died, we don’t need his body.” “For others, once you mentioned visiting the police, they will never show up. Some people believe that cases that involved police must be armed robbery cases. After the first phone contact, you will never hear from them again. Many will prefer to change their phone numbers and residential addresses so as not to be traced.

“This PPP programme has drastically reduced such occurrences. Fewer corpses are being abandoned in Lagos government mortuaries. In recent times, owners of lands have started rejecting people coming to bury dead bodies on their lands.” He said Lagos has a Crematorium machine at the Mainland Hospital Yaba where some of these bodies are cremated thereby creating space in the mortuaries which also makes the environment safe. According to him, people die of various ailments, and this will spare the environment from outbreak of diseases.

He also dismissed high cost of mortuary bill as one of the reasons why people abandon corpses. “Every mortuary has its charges. Initially, a sum of N700 is paid per day, but subsequently it increases to N800.00 per day.” Saturday Vanguard also gathered that as part of measures to check increasing number of unclaimed corpses, abandoned corpses picked up by the Police or any other body of the government, are no longer accepted in the private mortuaries in government owned hospitals, unless the security operatives are accompanied by the relatives. “If there is no one to be contacted, we would reject the corpses because someone may pay the initial cost, but who pays the subsequent bills? That is our dilemma”, he said

Need for law to be enacted

Recently, some religious groups came up with laws that corpses of their members should not be allowed to stay longer than three weeks before burial. According to Pastor John Imeh of Lifeline Ministries, the Church came up with a standing order not to bury any corpse that stayed beyond a month from the day the person died in order to reduce financial burden on members.

It is no longer news that many Nigerians now see burial ceremony as an opportunity to display affluence. To achieve what they consider as befitting burial, some sell their farm lands or borrow money. Observers are of the opinion that in Nigeria today, it is now cheaper to live than to die. In spite of over many decades of contact with western education and Christian religion, most communities in Nigeria have continued to practice burial rites which constitute financial burden on many people. However, to curb cases of abandoned corpses in mortuaries, health watchers are of the view that there is need to enact a law that would address the problem of abandoned corpses in morgues across the country. They also commended government option of mass burial as it will help decongest the mortuaries.