Lagos to hold mass burial for bodies not removed from mortuaries in two weeks

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has said a mass burial will be conducted for dead bodies that are not evacuated from the state’s mortuaries within the next two weeks.

Sanwo-Olu made this known at a news conference on COVID-19 pandemic at the State House, Marina.

The governor said the state government needs to decongest the mortuaries, adding that residents are now allowed to conduct burials.

Sanwo-Olu, however, told the families to adhere to the rules on social distancing when burying their loved ones.

“If we’re unable to see a decongestion of mortuaries across the state within the next two weeks, Lagos state government will now be compelled to seek to have a mass burial and we would not want to force this on anybody, which is why we are asking for the cooperation of all of us,” he said.

“This is not the time when you need to wait for your brother or your sister or your sibling, who is 10,000km or 6,000km away from here for them to come back before you can have the funeral.

“These are very difficult times and I can imagine that families and relatives and siblings will understand that we need to have this and we need to put this behind us.

“So, we are reiterating it again that we’ll give two weeks window and we’ll expect a lot of people to comply after which the state government might have to take other decisions in that manner.”