From Chinwe Ochu in Abuja, 11.24.2009

The Federal Government has said that the Government of the Republic of China has extended the deadline for the cremation of unclaimed corpses of Nigerians who died in China. According to the Government, the new date is now 15th December, 2009.
A press statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja said: “The Government of China, after another diplomatic representation by the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing, has graciously extended the deadline when the remains of all foreigners still lying in the various mortuaries in that country must be claimed or will be cremated according to Chinese laws. The new date is now 15th December, 2009.”
According to the release, about 21 Nigerian corpses have been identified as unclaimed by their relatives, and so subject to cremation. These were said to have died from varied causes from diseases, accidents, drowning and so on.
“Information received from our Mission in China indicates that the Nigerians died in that country from various causes ranging from sickness/illness, motor vehicle accidents, drowning, drugs and unknown causes, whose remains are yet to be claimed by their relations or families”, it said.

Unfortunately, efforts by the Ministry and our Mission in Beijing, China to contact the families and next – of – kin of the deceased have not been successful due to paucity of information on the deceased at the time of death. In cases where such information were found (such as telephone numbers on some of the deceased,), when they were contacted, there were no responses; and in other cases, the family members who responded were not cooperative, regarding decision on what to do with the corpses of their relations.” 

  The deceased includes Said Akinola Akinsanya, who died in Guangzhou of unknown causes; Chris Nwanekezie who die in Dongguan of motor accident; Tunde Bombata who slumped and died in Beijing; Susanah Imbasi died of AIDS in Beijing and Tunmise Razak who died in Nanjing of drowning.     

The statement continued: “The general public and in particular members and family of the deceased are kindly requested to urgently contact the Ministry (Consular and Immigration Services Division) to indicate how they wish to arrange to repatriate the remains of their loved ones for burial in Nigeria or in the alternative, grant appropriate approval for cremation by the Chinese Authorities.”
     
The Ministry noted that the “Chinese authorities have stressed that failure to comply with the new deadline of 15th December 2009, they would, inline with its domestic laws, cremate these bodies, some of which been in the mortuaries since 2006. It  also should be noted that it is truly a gesture of goodwill, respect for Nigeria’s culture and the dead, coupled with the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries that the Government of the Peoples Republic of China has not over the years taken the unilateral decision to cremate the bodies.”
     
Federal Government further stressed its sympathy for those who may have lost their loved ones in death and urged such ones to act fast as regards the retrieval of the bodies.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=160641


This is really a very sad story. Does it mean that the Nigerian Government does not have enough money to repatriate the bodies for a befiting burial. Could it be they dont even care about the dead of these nigerians. They died due to no fault of theirs under tragic situations. Do we even have a government? Would they have allowed their children to be treated in this way?

Very sad story