After existing for close to 150 years, the Atan Cemetery in Yaba, Lagos, still has abundant space to accommodate new corpses, Jude Aisuebeogun, a director at the cemetery, said on Thursday. In an interview with NAN on Thursday, Aisuebeogun said half of the graveyard, which covers 25 hectares of land, is yet to be used. The cemetery, established by the British colonial masters, ranks among the oldest of its type in Nigeria. The director said there were files for all corpses buried at the cemetery and each grave is numbered for proper administration. “The Atan Cemetery was established in 1868 and it covers a 25-hectare of land and half of it has not been used,” he said. “There will still be spaces to accommodate dead bodies for a long time. When someone pays for a vault, the grave is dug in front of him and no skeleton has been removed or reburied in the process.” Aisuebeogun revealed that the cemetery had vacant lots to lease to Ebony, a private cemetery operator. He also said that the management of the cemetery usually ensured proper sanitation to prevent offensive odour from coming out of the graves. “There is no offensive odour coming out of the cemetery that could pollute the environment as we take preventive measure by ensuring the graves are well covered,” he said. On security of the graveyard, the director said that there was 24 hours patrol and security surveillance to prevent the incidence of ritual hunting for human parts. He said that the management of the cemetery had a long-term plan of acquiring new sites at Epe and Ikorodu areas whenever space at the Atan graveyard is exhausted.
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