(http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Gov.-Babatunde-Raji-Fashola-300x228.jpg) (http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Gov.-Babatunde-Raji-Fashola.jpg)From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) yesterday signed three new bills into laws to establish the State Christian and Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, the Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation and another to provide for voluntary cremation of corpses and unclaimed corpses. The Governor who spoke at the Conference Room of the Lagos House, Ikeja added that the law for voluntary cremation of corpses and unclaimed corpses in the state and for connected purposes will only apply to those who chose to use that kind of service.
"The new law tells the story of a full consciousness of how global Lagos state has become in the affairs of things.
"If people migrate here, choose a home here, set up businesses here and believe from where they come that cremation is the best way in which they want to be treated.
"I think we should as a global city provide those standard practices as it is done in many other cities in the world and it is for those who choose to use that kind of service.
"Let it not be said that we missed an investment opportunity because we were not responsive to a particular need or we lost interaction because we were insensitive to other people's belief and this sits well with a report that was brought to my attention yesterday to the effect that Lagos is now just behind Johannesburg as perhaps the most visited African city on the continent."
He reiterated that the state must as expected take her role and provide as many services as possible so that people who come here will know that they have come to an international city where they can make choices.
Earlier, while providing insight into the new laws, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaiye, said the bill on voluntary cremation of corpses and unclaimed corpses in Lagos and for connected purposes is a private member bill that takes into consideration the need to have formal legal structure for the cremation of deceased persons within the state.
He added that the bill establishes crematoriums for the state and that there can be no cremations except in crematoriums duly recognized, established and managed according to the law, adding that the new law is a clear attempt to strictly regulate the manner in which cremations will be carried out in Lagos state.
"The law also empowers the Commissioner for Health to appoint a registered medical practitioner with at least 5 years experience as the medical officer in charge of the crematorium office and would work with two deputies with specified duties. While proffering answers on who may be cremated, Ipaiye said there would be no cremation unless there had been an application for cremation made in accordance with section 9 of the law.
"It must be the deceased that provides for it in his will or the families of the deceased who could agree to make the application but before it is considered there must be a death certificate issued.
"There must also be a certified true copy of the entry of the deceased death in the relevant registers and there must be a medical certificate and confirmed medical certificate which must certify the cause of the death".
"Section nine provides that where a will is silent, the near relative who may apply must have attained the age of 18.
"It also provides that a medical officer can apply for cremation for abandoned corpses which are not claimed after considerable period of time.
"The law also talks about the aftermath of unclaimed corpses, as 14 days notice is given after cremation and if nobody claims the ashes, the office can dispose of it," he explained.
The post Lagos residents can now burn their dead (http://peoplesdailyng.com/lagos-residents-can-now-burn-their-dead/) appeared first on Peoples Daily Newspaper, Nigeria (http://peoplesdailyng.com).
Peoples Daily Newspaper