Cemeteries now dump sites, hideouts for criminals – Clerics
By; ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna.
Worried over the unfortunate conversion of cemeteries into refuse dump site, criminal hideouts, a team of Kaduna based clerics, from the Islamic and Christianity religion who took a tour of some cemeteries, have decry the deplorable condition of cemeteries in the country.
The team embarks on the tour with journalists to sensitize the general public on the health hazards and dangers of excreting in cemeteries.
According to the team, hundreds of cemeteries in Nigeria are in a very poor and bizarre condition as most of them have turn out to be latrines, refuse dumps, hideouts for criminals and ritualists, which has pose a threat and concern to Nigerians.
The group kicked against dumping of refuse on graveyards by residents due to lack or non provision of toilets in houses by some landlords.
Addressing journalists after the tour of some of the graveyards within Kaduna metropolis, Pastor Yohanna Buru, General Overseer of Christ Evangelical Intercessory Fellowship Ministry Church, who is also the team leader of the clerics said a graveyard is supposed to be a clean and sacred environment and not a refuse dump sites or latrines.
According to him, “a graveyard must be properly secured and fenced to avoid trespassers or encroachment, but today the reverse is the case, as most of our cemeteries have no fence, and too expose to all sort of dirtiness.”
Pastor Buru expressed worry over what he referred to as neglect of Nigerian graveyard sanitation. He said majority of the cemeteries in Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria are in bad condition and full of dirt’s resulting from lack of sanitation by people across religious faiths.
“It is regrettable that our graveyards are not looking attractive due to the ‘I don’t care attitudes’ of many residents that have turned cemeteries into refuse ground with dangerous criminals and ritualists sighted around cemeteries at night, with their nefarious activities.
“Nigeria is one of the most religious countries in this planet, but people don’t show love to the death once they’re gone, adding that there are many bushes and holes in our graveyards that need to be filled with sand but nothing has been done to save the situation.
“Government should secure and keep ‘the final home’ clean and tidy. When we grow old, God willing, we are going to be permanently laid to rest in those grave yards so we must keep them clean.
“Government and religious leaders should educate and sensitize citizens as well as worshippers on the importance of cleaning graveyards.
“There is the need for every state government to extend monthly sanitation to graved-yards in other to immensely save the poor state of Nigerian cemeteries from turning to a refuse ground instead of graved-yards,” Pastor Bury said.
Similarly, Mallam Alaramma Abdulrahman Mohammad Bichi, a Muslim scholar from Barnawa, expressed dissatisfaction over the condemnable attitude of some people that usually excrete at the cemeteries.
He emphasized the need for Nigerians to use every last Saturday of the month for cleaning the cemeteries.
General survey of the Nigerian graved-yard shows that, there is the need for everyone to donate to the fencing of all the cemeteries, in other to protect them against all forms of dirt, and ritualist activities attack on dead bodies
