The government of Rivers State has imposed a fine of N10 million to be paid by any resident who carried out burial ceremonies with more than 50 persons, including family members of the deceased.
This is contained in a new Executive Order signed by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and released on June 8.
The state government said the new order was to help check the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
Other guidelines in the new order is that burials in the state must be conducted between 9am and 12 noon, people at the burial, attendees must observe social distancing. No wake keeping and service of songs.
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The new guidelines stipulates that, first, for residents of the state to carry out burial ceremonies, they must apply for approval from the state governor through the Commissioner for Health.
Secondly, the application for a burial ceremony must come with a death certificate which must indicate whether the deceased died from COVID-19 or not.
And lastly, the application must be accompanied with a written undertaken from the applicant that he or she will pay a fine of N10 million if the guidelines imposed by the state government was flouted during the burial ceremonies.
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