Kogi State sanitation and waste management board on Saturday, buried 130 unclaimed dead bodies at Felele Cemetery, in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.
General Manager of the board, Mrs. Elizabeth Arokoyo, says the agency is backed by law to give mass burial to unclaimed bodies to protect the safety of the environment since decomposition of dead Bodies could cause harm to human lives and the entire ecosystems.
Voice of Nigeria learnt that the corpses were unclaimed bodies of road traffic accidents victims, armed robbers and kidnappers deposited at the mutuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja for several months without families or relations coming forward to collect the corpses for burial.
Speaking at the mass burial, the general manager of Kogi State Sanitation and Waste Management Board, Mrs. Arokoyo, represented by Secretary to the Board, Mr. Olufemi Ajayi, says the dead bodies had been in the hospital mutuary, longer than necessary.
The GM says the dead bodies have been deposited at the mortuary by the Nigerian Police Force and Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC).
She says the move followed several media announcements to the public to reach out to their family members or relations through the media but the publicity effort by the agency were unsuccessful,
“All the people evacuating and burying these bodies have been sanitized. Just like I said earlier, we have made several announcements on radio, television, and other media about these unclaimed bodies. But, as I speak to you, nothing was heard from family members, relations, and friends of this corpses.
“Most of these corpses are remains of accident victims, kidnappers and robbers deposited by the Police and the federal Road Safety Commission. So, they have to be buried because they have been in the mortuary for a long time without anybody coming for them”, She concludes.
