Uko Okon
Open Forum, a Civil Society Organisation in Akwa Ibom, has demanded laws banning costly marriage and burial rites, which they described as exploitative and outrageous
Angered by the development, the group called on the state government and the House of Assembly to review traditional laws governing the performance of those rites.
The organisation’s Executive Director, Matthew Koffi Okono, disclosed this while addressing a press conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom’s capital, on Wednesday.
Okono stressed that other states have enacted new burial and marriage laws and urged the Akwa Ibom government to follow suit as a matter of urgent public importance.
The Director said the current practice is not only exploitative but has made some families abandon the corpse of their relatives at the morgue and scare away some prospective grooms from completing their marriage rites.
Okono appealed to the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria to look at, and or review their policies regarding the burial of their deceased members and marriages in Akwa Ibom State.
He said the call was made following a successful burial of a 71-year-old woman abandoned in the mortuary for seven years due to the unbearable burial rites demand.
He added that the current economic realities in the country have worsened the situation as so many families find it very difficult to provide the required seven (7) goats or cow(s) alongside other items and cash before burying their loved ones.
While noting that families with the wherewithal can give what they have, Okono said there should be an official standard to help the larger majority of citizens who struggle with multidimensional poverty.
“It is Open Forum’s advocacy that the Akwa Ibom State Government and the Supreme Council of Akwa Ibom State Traditional Rulers and the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly should, as a matter of urgent public importance set in motion the process for the enactment of the Akwa Ibom State Burial System Law or by whatever other title to stipulate reasonable and affordable traditional rights (items) required by every family in all villages, clans and local governments in the state.
“Also, the inability of our young men and women of marriage age would be able to go into marriage honourably without breaking the bank to do so. It will be to the credit of the Umo Eno administration if these patriotic initiatives are adopted and implemented during his tenure as Governor of Akwa Ibom State.”
The group also noted the failure of leadership at various levels in the state, saying that, according to complaints received from vulnerable persons in the state, some family heads, village heads, and even higher traditional rulers are allegedly not living up to expectations in resolving matters and adjudicating justice.
He, therefore, advocated that all family and village heads and the traditional institution should be given periodic orientation on conflict resolution and leadership tenets.
