Time up for expansive burial programmes in Anambra as House passes bill

The Anambra State House of Assembly has taken a major step towards regulating burial programmes in the state.
To this end, it has outlawed expensive funerals in the state by passing the bill entitled a Law To Control Burial/Funeral Ceremonial Activities in the State.
Burial programmes are usually elastic among the Igbo, as it is in some other parts of Nigeria.
A lot of people have criticised this, saying organisers often waste money that ought to be spent on productive things.
Several Nollywood movies have also projected the practice, with a view to celebrating the people’s culture while also criticising the excesses it exudes.
But in an unprecedented move, the House said it had become an offence to hold a funeral for more than a day in the state.
A bill sponsored by the member representing Anaocha II constituency, Charles Ezeani, stated that “the Burial/funeral control bill is aimed at cutting down the cost of burial activities in the state.”
It provided that in the event of death, “No person shall deposit any corpse in the mortuary or any place beyond two months from the date of the death, while burial ceremonies in the state shall be for one day.”
The bill also prohibits the destruction of property, gunshots, praise-singing, blocking of roads and streets during burial ceremonies in the state, adding, “No person shall subject any relation of the deceased person to a mourning period of more than one week from the date of the burial ceremony.”
“It further stipulates that during burial and funeral ceremonial activities, the family of the deceased “shall provide food for their kindred, relatives and other sympathisers at their own discretion. Speaking to newsmen, Ezeani said a monitoring and implementation committee that would enforce the law would be put in place when the governor assents it,” a report adds.