‘Nigerians will soon embrace it’

[Mirror]

Nihar K. Pradesh, 40, is a devotee of Geeta Ashram, a Lagos-based Indian religious group. He has been living in Nigeria for almost a decade. A construction expert with one of the multinational firms headquartered in Lagos, Pradesh claimed says that cremation in Nigeria should be received with aplomb by all well-meaning citizens of the country.

According to him, a lot of factors make cremation better preferred by a people such as Nigerians to the normal burial that we witness here.

Though admitting that not all Indians are cremated, Pradesh opined that if an independent survey is conducted among Nigerians on the issue of cremation, many of them would opt for cremation rather than the 'old-fashioned' burial style. In the words of Pradesh, "I have been here nor for about 10 years and I can say I know a lot about the way Nigerians behave and respond to issues.

On the issue of cremation, I bet you that if proper enlightenment is given and an independent survey conducted, a lot of Nigerians would opt for cremation over the normal burial they are used to.

"Some of us in the Indian community had had course to interact with a lot of Nigerians over the planned introduction of cremation in Lagos State and I can tell you that the awareness and interest in that practice is overwhelming.

"Come to think of it, many churches are now coming to terms with the realisation of the cremation method of burying the dead.

For me I think it is in the best interest of Nigeria to legalise cremation," Pradesh said. The Hyderabad-born contractor maintained that cremation would be beneficial to most Nigerians because of its cost effectiveness and convenience for the family of the deceased.

Pradesh continued, "It is a known secret in Nigeria that land is a problematic and sensitive issue and not many people and families can afford the cost of it to bury their dead.

But if cremation is allowed, it makes the whole issue of burial easy. We read every time how corpses are buried almost on top of another one at some cemetery here in Lagos, but once cremation is allowed, it makes the whole things easy," he said.

National Mirror