For some weird reasons, a first-time walk to Mr Olasubomi Ade’s workshop left an oddly bland taste beyond the taste buds. It might be the dryness of the air that led to his Agege, Lagos home, as houses stood right in front of other houses without recourse to physical planning. There was also the graveyard silence that wrapped the atmosphere as wooden coffins lined up right outside his kiosk.
Ade, 59, said he had been a furniture maker for most of his life, adding that making coffins was a forte he took a liking for because, for him, it was special.
“The way it is designed and how the woods come together to make beautiful pieces is one thing I love about my work.
“I make other furniture pieces but seeing a finished coffin leave my workshop for a funeral home fills me with instant peace,” the soft-spoken man said, as he showed our correspondent inside his crowded shop.
His voice pierced through the screeching sound of the wood sandpaper as his apprentices worked on several other fresh pieces.
After a deep breath, this reporter stepped into the shop, which seemed too small to accommodate the many coffins housed there.
The woman, who identified herself as Iya Amala, said she had no problem sharing the space with Ade, adding that they had been friends for years.
“I don’t sell my food here. I only cook here and take it to my shops down the road. Everyone knows me in the area because my amala is very tasty and neatly prepared,” she briskly said.
‘Son died on way to deliver coffin in Osun’
Ade said an unforgettable experience for him was when his youngest son died when he accompanied a driver to deliver a coffin in an area in Osun State.
According to him, the car brake failed and the son was the only one who died.
“People said a lot of things. I had three sons and he was the one who was really interested in the business.
“I had lost my wife years earlier. This business and my two boys are all I live for,” he added.
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For another coffin maker, Bankole Esan, who started the business almost 10 years ago, sales have not been too favourable because of the economic condition.
Speaking on the telephone with our correspondent, the Ekiti State-based casket maker said he had had better days.
Recounting how he started the business, Esan said he had always been a lover of furniture making and decided to join the trade when he finished secondary school.
He was in Lagos then and worked in one of the funeral homes on the mainland as a driver.
He said he began to develop interest, learnt the trade and became a professional.
When he moved to Ado-Ekiti, Esan said he decided to set up a funeral home, Banky Funeral Homes.
Mother said no
The marketing seemed awkward, even for him, as he quietly fell back into his seat when our reporter walked into his shop.
The price ranged from as high as N150,000 to as much as N20m. In fact, one of the salesmen, who did not want to be named, said there were more expensive ones. He called them ‘premium wares’.
Speaking of his experience doing the line of work, the salesman said even his roommate did not know what work he did, which was why he declined to give his name.
“You know the way people behave. I don’t want someone to say I want to kill him so I can sell my coffin to him. The coffins here are not for the living; they are for the dead,” he stressed.
He also noted that there were not only wooden caskets.
“We have metal ones, too, which are imported from China, Malaysia and America. The minimum price for those ones now will be more than N2m, depending on the grade of the metal used,” he added.
On number 22 was Easy Way Casket and the line went on and on almost unending.
While ‘coffin’ is exclusively used for such purpose, Funeral Vocabulary, an online resource, stated that ‘casket’, in addition to this usage comes in different shapes and sizes for other uses such as a little container to keep pieces of jewellery and precious gems.
For a business that has existed for decades, there seems to be little literature about the economy and worth of the industry in Nigeria.
This may not be unconnected with the sanctity associated with the usage of the product.
In some places, people look at coffin furniture-makers with disdain.
To such people, it is not a good enterprise because it flourishes at the expense of human lives.
According to Aiyeloja and Adedeji, people feel when coffin makers pray to sell their products, they are indirectly praying for more people to die.
“This has, doubtlessly, compelled the coffin makers to maintain a quiet disposition in the marketing and sales of their products.
Shedding more light on the issue, another Islamic scholar and professor, Mahfouz Adedimeji, stated that “there may be an instance where using the coffin may be allowed” for a Muslim burial.
“For instance, the soil may be extremely soft leading to the constant collapse of the grave or the burial site is wet or muddy. In such scenarios, using coffins is allowed,” he added.
He, however, noted that Muslims could engage in the business because “it isn’t the wood or the coffin that is forbidden but using it to bury Muslims that is not allowed”.
Christians, on the other hand, use coffins in burying their loved ones, though scholars have said there is no biblical injunction for or against the usage.
Thriving business
Aiyeloja and Adedeji noted though not an ‘orchestrated enterprise’, coffin makers have been thriving in their businesses going by the limited number of people involved in the enterprise as compared with the number of people passing on to the great beyond daily.
“A television station, for instance, dedicated one hour for paid advertorial where scores of obituaries were announced on a daily basis. Yet, the enterprise has been excluded from virtually all the works available in wood furniture enterprise in the region,” they stated.
A middle-aged woman from Osumenyi, Nnewi South council area of Anambra State, Jovita Oraneli, broke the Internet when she said she sold coffins.
She said she got into the trade in 2014, adding that she would love to do the business till old age.
Oraneli, who learnt the trade from her brother after she finished her national youth service in 2014, said it was the best decision she ever made.
Speaking on how she coped in the sector as a lady, she said, “There is nothing like a man’s work. Work is work. Any legal business is for everybody and I chose casket-making and funeral services.
“I have never really been a fan of doing what so many people are into. This was why I went into this business.
“When you see the way I am dressed for an event, you will know that I am ready for business and it is not about my sex.
“In fact, all my staff, including the undertakers, are men,” she stated.
She told BBC Pidgin, “Coffin get type by type so wen you come my shop you go buy di one wey your money reach. Na cash and carry. No be business wey pesin go come collect goods come tell you im go pay next week.We no dey for dat one.”
‘People say I’ll kill my husband’
Jovita added that because of her job, some of her in-laws told her that she would be the death of her husband, adding that it had to take some time before her in-laws came to terms with the work.
“Dem tell my husband say na me go kill am. My in-laws ask my husband wia e see me. Dem say why e no see ‘normal’ woman wey dey do normal business, e come go bring pesin wey dey sell casket.
“Na as I spend time with dem dem realise say wetin I dey do dey genuine. No be me kill di pipo wey dey die. Wetin I dey do na to sell casket and go my way,” she said.
Another woman in the trade is 45-year-old Mrs Ifeoma Ofornagorom from Ezinifite, Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State, popularly called Nwayi Akpati Ozu (woman who makes caskets).
She is one of the people whose fortune changed after venturing into the casket business.
He said, “In other climes where they do cremation or other forms of alternative funeral rites, coffin makers cannot be found. The people who stigmatise coffin makers in our culture will still go to them when they are bereaved in order to buy the best coffins they can afford for the burial of their loved ones.
“The coffin makers are doing their job and they should be seen as other occupational groups.
“Since death is a reality and most parts of Africa require the burial of adults with coffins, how will people cope if there are no coffin makers? Will deaths cease to occur if we don’t have coffin makers? In Islam, corpses are not buried in coffins, but Muslims still die.
“The same people that have this attitudinal problem will go to funeral ceremonies to eat and drink to their satisfaction.”
He further stressed that more open discussions about death should be encouraged to change the negative attitudes toward death and dying.
“Most of us have not realised the inevitability of death. It’s a reality that as long as there is life, there’s going to be death.
“The developed countries that recorded many COVID-19-related deaths may think differently about the reality of death compared to those in other parts that witnessed less mortality from COVID-19.
“However, despite this fear, many people also have a tendency to avoid thinking about death or planning their own funeral arrangements.
“This may be due to a number of psychological factors, including denial, avoidance, and the belief that death is a distant event that won’t happen anytime soon,” he stated.
Denial, according to him, is a common psychological defence mechanism used by many people when faced with the prospect of their own mortality.
He noted that by denying the reality of death, individuals could avoid the unpleasant emotions associated with it and continue living their lives without any form of threat.
“Avoidance is another common coping mechanism that individuals may use to deal with their fear of death. Rather than confronting the issue directly, they may avoid thinking about it altogether or engage in distractions such as work, hobbies, or social activities. Individual differences in personality traits and coping styles can also influence the fear of death,” he added.
Essien, further speaking on the topic, noted that cultural and religious beliefs could also play a significant role in shaping an individual’s fear of death.
He said, “For example, many religions offer beliefs and rituals that provide a sense of comfort and continuity beyond death, while other cultures view death as a natural part of the cycle of life and celebrate it through traditions and rituals.”
https://punchng.com/how-coffin-makers-laugh-all-the-way-to-the-bank/
