ENUGU — Prominent Igbo clerics and traditional rulers have expressed concern over the growing culture of extravagant burial ceremonies in Igboland, describing it as a wasteful and un-Igbo practice that undermines the welfare of the living.
They called on families to shift focus from lavish funerals to caring for the living, stressing that many people neglected in life are celebrated with wasteful displays in death.
The Bishop of Okigwe South, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Dr. David Onuoha, condemned the trend, recalling an incident where a poor man who died of hunger was buried in grand style by his wealthy son.
“What we are seeing today is a foreign culture imposed on us. People now celebrate death instead of mourning the dead and celebrating the living,” he said.
The bishop lamented that some people neglect their parents for years, only to spend huge sums on burials after their deaths. He said such practices cannot be justified “traditionally, customarily, or religiously,” noting that burials in the past were simple and community-supported.
He added that his diocese had directed that corpses should not remain in mortuaries beyond 30 days to discourage flamboyant displays and cut costs.
Similarly, the traditional ruler of Nkaliki Unuhu Achara in Ebonyi State, Ezeogo Sunday Oketa, criticised the increasing obsession with expensive funerals. He described the habit of building new houses and buying multi-million-naira caskets for the dead as “insensitive and unreasonable.”
“It is sad that the Igbo now honour the dead more than the living,” he said, urging wealthy individuals to invest in industries and create jobs instead of wasting resources on burials.
He called for community rules to check extravagant ceremonies and punish offenders, noting that many families incur debts and hardship just to stage ‘befitting’ burials.
Also speaking, the Archbishop of Umuahia Methodist Diocese, Most Rev. Chibuzor Opoko, described the practice as “crazy,” saying it makes no moral or economic sense for families to go into debt to bury their dead.
“A man who never entered a car while alive is buried in a casket more expensive than his house. This is senseless,” Opoko said.
He called for joint action by the church, government, and traditional institutions to enforce modesty in funerals and investigate the sources of questionable wealth displayed at such events.
Community leader Chief Victor Azumara urged the use of traditional structures like the Umunna and Umuada to enforce sanctions, while Chief Gilbert Bravo Obi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Nigerian Importers Association, condemned borrowing or selling property to fund burials.
The leaders agreed that the trend contradicts Igbo values and called for a cultural reawakening to restore modest, community-oriented burial customs that uphold dignity and compassion for the living.
