Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola has signed three new bills recently passed by the State House of Assembly into law.
One of them is the controversial bill providing for voluntary cremation of corpses and unclaimed corpses in the state, which was passed last year amidst protests from residents of the state.
The others include the law to establish the State Christian and Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board and the one establishing the Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation, an oil exploration company owned by the state.
Appending his signature to the bills on Monday, the governor restated that laws in the state are always publicly assented to, so that members of the press can help with further sensitisating citizens about what such new policies, laws, legislations and regulations contain.
The governor who spoke at the Conference Room of the Lagos House, Ikeja added that the law for voluntary cremation of corpses and unclaimed corpses in the state and for connected purposes will only apply to those who chose to use that kind of service.
“The new law tells the story of a full consciousness of how global Lagos State has become in the affairs of things. If people migrate here, choose a home here, set up businesses here and believe from where they come that cremation is the best way in which they want to be treated, I think we should, as a global city, provide those standard practices as it is done in many other cities in the world. It is for those who choose to use that kind of service,” he said.
“Let it not be said that we missed an investment opportunity because we were not responsive to a particular need or we lost interaction because we were insensitive to other people’s beliefs and this sits well with a report that was brought to my attention yesterday to the effect that Lagos is now just behind Johannesburg as perhaps the most visited African city on the continent.”
He reiterated that the state must, as expected, provide as many services as possible so that visitors would know that they have come to an international city where they can make choices.
On the bill for a law to establish the Ibile Oil and Gas corporation, the governor explained that the initiative behind the law was to further deepen the vision of setting up a Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Lagos State and ensure that the state is able to participate in as many sector of oil and gas and generally in power and energy development as a state.
“Our state has oil and gas reserve deposits and so we think that a company set up on that will accord first with the national framework for local content and also our own aspiration to continue to expand all the possible width of the Lagos economy for now and for the future.”
Governor Fashola added that what was more important for the state is the need to be sensitive to every section of the society within the ambit of the constitution. He commended members of the House for working on the three bills and passing them over for his assent.
Earlier, while providing insights into the new laws, Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaiye explained that the bill on voluntary cremation of corpses and unclaimed corpses in Lagos and for connected purposes is a private member bill that takes into consideration the need to have formal legal structure for the cremation of deceased persons within the State.
He added that the bill establishes crematoriums for the state and that there can be no cremations except in crematoriums duly recognised, established and managed according to the law, adding that the new law is a clear attempt to strictly regulate the manner in which cremations will be carried out in the State.
“The law also empowers the commissioner for health to appoint a registered medical practitioner with at least five years experience as the medical officer in charge of the crematorium office and would work with two deputies with specified duties,” Ipaye added.
He explained that there would be no cremation unless there have been an application for cremation made in accordance with Section 9 of the law.
“It must be the deceased that provides for it in his will or the families of the deceased who could agree to make the application but before it is considered there must be a death certificate issued.
“There must also be a certified true copy of the entry of the deceased death in the relevant registers and there must be a medical certificate and confirmed medical certificate which must certify the cause of the death.
“Section 9 provides that where a will is silent, the near relative who may apply must have attained the age of 18. It also provides that a medical officer can apply for cremation for abandoned corpses, which are not claimed after considerable period of time. The law also talks about the aftermath of unclaimed corpses, as 14 days notice is given after cremation and if nobody claims the ashes, the office can dispose of it.”
Ipaye further said the bill for a law to establish the Ibile oil and Gas Corporation is of considerable importance to Lagos State because oil and gas are the materials that are literally fuelling the Nigerian economy, adding that Lagos has a role to play in that field.
He said there have been some activities offshore of the state, stressing that those activities are even coming nearer everyday suggesting clearly that in the near future, Lagos State would have within its territory a lot of activities in the area of oil and gas exploration and production.
He explained that the Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation is to engage in all oil and gas upstream activities including exploration, drilling and production and to invest in a company or consortium for the purpose of participating in oil and gas bid rounds and seeking marginal fields allocation.
“It is also empowered to acquire old and new exploration and drilling prospects and prospecting abandoned wells anywhere in Nigeria or overseas,” he stated. “It is to optimize the benefits of the petroleum policies of the Federal Government for Lagos State and to acquire gas volumes and other supplies for the State as may be considered appropriate.”
He also added that the new law to establish the Lagos State Christian and Muslim Pilgrimages and Welfare Boards would henceforth regulate pilgrimages in the State, observing that since the different boards were created in the 1980s, the state had a Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board created by the law and a Muslim Welfare Board created by another law, which resulted in two laws running on the same subject. Since then, the two laws have been subjected to piecemeal amendments.
Ipaiye explained that the government considered it appropriate to consolidate the laws by incorporating all the amendments that have been made into one document and also by putting the two into welfare boards under the same legal structure such that the structure by which the pilgrims are assisted to go on pilgrimages should be unified under a single legislation.
He said each of the new boards would be made up of seven members including a chairman and a secretary with five members and each of which would represent the five divisions of the state, adding that the law also provides that at least two members of each board must be women.
