Ever heard that joke about a landlord and his tenant? No? Well then, let me share it. One fine morning, an aged landlord was sitting out on his balcony when his new tenant came out, headed for work. They exchanged greetings, and in the process the landlord asked,

“How’s your business faring?”

The tenant replies, “Business is good, but it could be better. It’s all up to you sir.”

The landlord innocently asks, “Well, what do you do, and how can I be of help?”

“I sell caskets,” the neighbour answers.

On my way home from work daily, I pass by a small casket shop, and on a few occasions, I have admired a casket or two. Sometimes, I observe the behaviour of people around me when the vehicle we are in stops in front of the casket shop. People typically look away almost instantly, anywhere but in the direction of the shop. According to Mr Ajayi, a sales rep at a casket shop in Odunlami – a street in Lagos Island renowned for casket craft and sales, he notes “most people only look straight when they drive past here. They don’t want to see coffins.”

50-year-old Ghogho is a businesswoman who has buried both her parents. Her father passed on in 2004, and her mother, two years ago. On both occasions, she carried the corpses to the mortuary and paid occasional visits until the day of the funeral. Ghogho has nothing but respect for mortuary attendants and embalmers; “they are very brave, I can never do what they do,” she said. “I think its weird business,” Iyanu, a student of Lagos State University and a part-time makeup artist, said with a frown. “I fear those people who take care of dead bodies, I think they are stonehearted,” she added.

People in the funeral business usually get odd looks and questions from other people when they mention their line of business. “It’s funny how people react. I don’t tell most of my friends what I do, save people who are interested in me. And even when I do, people are like “are you serious?” because there are a lot of superstitions surrounding it,” said Mr Aanu, a mortuary scientist. The first time he told his fiancée what he does for a living, she asked if he saw ghosts. Mr Adewale, a casket crafter said it took quite some time for him to convince his wife to let him remain in the business. “She used to be scared of the job,” he said. “But with time, I was able to convince her that there’s nothing to be scared of.”

There’s another common misconception in Nigeria that the prayers of those in the funeral business are for the death of others. But whether or not they pray for the death of others, their businesses would be patronised anyway, as thousands of deaths are recorded daily. In a week, small funeral homes in Lagos conduct a minimum of two to three funerals, while big funeral homes conduct about four to five. With locally made caskets costing from $500 to $4000, and imported caskets costing well over $3000.

“Funeral business is still untapped to its full market potential in Nigeria,” said Mr Seye, a business development manager at Omega Funeral Home. “In the United States, the funeral business is one of the largest contributions to the economy, it’s funeral market is the biggest in the world.” But despite how profitable the business proves to be, most of these merchants argue that profitability is not the driving force of their job, but their courageous service to humanity. “I don’t look at the funeral business as a lucrative business. I look at it as a necessary business,” said Barrister Omeogu, the general manager of Omega funeral home. “Everyone including myself is a potential customer to the business. I see it as a service to humanity and that is what drives me,” he said.

Meet the merchants

– The funeral director

Ramos Caskets is one of the many showrooms along Odunlami Street, a street commonly known as the ‘casket market’. And like many other casket shops at Odunlami, it has been there for decades. Boldly inscribed on the wall inside the small showroom, are the words ‘Death is certain,’ spray painted in gold. Mr Ramos junior is a light-skinned, sturdily built young man in his mid-twenties, who took over the family business of funeral consulting last year when his father passed on. Though he’s the new business owner, he is not new in the business. “My father asked me to learn the business when I was in secondary school. I learnt to make caskets in 2003 at MIC (Nigeria’s oldest funeral consulting home). I started working with my father in 2008 until his death last year.”

Mr Ramos owns a warehouse on the mainland where caskets are made daily. “There are people right there now, working,” he said, as he further explained the process of casket making with the air of an expert. “A casket is touched by at least three persons before it is completed – the carpenter, the painter/spray painter, and the decorator (interior and exterior).”

Mr Ramos is skilled, not just in making caskets, but also in people management. “We do our best to comfort the bereaved. We entertain them so they are not sad. We dress so well, it’s hard to tell whether or not we are for a funeral or a wedding. Whenever I work (direct a funeral) I make my clients happy. Except when it’s a young person, then we do a solemn funeral. My clients always call back to show appreciation after a funeral,” he explained with enthusiasm.

–The casket crafter

Mr Adewale has been crafting caskets since he was a teenager. “This is a job that I really love. Growing up, I always passed this road to my secondary school, which is nearby. Immediately I finished secondary school, I came here to join them,” he narrated, as he smoothened the top of the casket he was levelling with sandpaper. Mr Adewale doesn’t understand why people are frightened by his job- to him, it’s like any other business. “There’s money in it, and you will understand life,” he said. “You will know that life is simple, that there’s nothing to struggle for, so you’ll be more careful,” he added in a bid to explain his insight on life. An insight gained by years of crafting a ‘rest place’ for the dead.

–The Embalmer

In the funeral business, the role of the embalmer is very crucial, daring and risky. They often work with infectious cadavers and are exposed to harsh embalming chemicals like formalin. Mr Aanu is the Deputy Head of Omega funeral home. Often, he assists in sales and marketing of funeral products, and mortuary services. Other times, he acts as a counsellor to the bereaved. But his speciality is the art and science of embalming dead bodies – mortuary science.

Mr Aanu began training as an embalming apprentice when he was seventeen years old. He was fresh off college and needed some past time before getting into a university. So he and his friend walked into a funeral home and requested to be embalming apprentices. Ten years later, today, he’s quite skilled at what he does and serves as a mentor to his apprentices.

Why did he choose such a unique profession? Little Aanu was a strange child; his favourite toy was his elder bothers dissecting set. And while his mates were scared of rodents, he chased them. “When I was a kid, I chased lizards and rats around the house. I would catch them, kill them, and dissect them.” My elder brother studied Zoology, and often told me stories of his experiments in school. Then I would attempt to carry out these experiments on my own, on rodents. My mum and sisters were concerned for a while, but soon let me be. As a kid, blood wasn’t something I was scared of. I knew what I was called to do, and this is it. Mr Aanu loves his job, and prefers it to being a doctor, “these ones are dead already, I work on dead bodies. But doctors endure seeing people die. You are treating someone, and eventually, the person dies. And probably you can’t help or save the person.”

–The Business Developer

Just like most businesses, funeral businesses employ the services of a development manager. As time evolves, and things change, it is the job of the development manager to ensure that the business adapts to, or embraces new trends. Mr Seye, a graduate of computer science, is the Business Development Manager for Omega Funeral Home. For him, working in a funeral home “is just a way of diversifying. At least, now I know how the funeral business is run; it is quite an eye-opening experience for me.”

Mr Seye never thought he would be a part of the funeral business, let alone the business developer in a funeral home. He simply applied for the position of the personal assistant to the CEO, but he was promoted over time to his present position. “My job is to go out there, research modern trends that clients like, and we improve on it to ensure customer satisfaction.” As surprisingly odd as it may seem, there are funeral trends too. “The trend now is that people prefer well finished caskets,” said Mr Seye. “And most of these caskets are foreign, so we import them.” According to him, “Nigerians now understand the difference between quality casket, and locally made casket. We have a high taste.” Does this mean Nigeria is bad at casket crafting? “No. It’s just that there is still a lot of work to be done.”

A typical week for a business developer in a funeral home begins with a strategy implementation meeting, “we strategize for the week, then calls are put through to clients (people who have bodies in the morgue), followed by condolence visitations, marketing …” When asked to explain how the nature of his job has changed him, Mr Seye said it hadn’t. “People have different perspective on things. I was bred to blend into whatever situation I find myself; I just flow with the tide.”

As a business developer, Mr Seye’s goal for his company is to emulate and offer the standard of funeral products and services offered in European countries, like America. “As you can see,” he said, “everything here is top-notch.”

Funeral merchants also offer ‘corpse repatriation’ services, a service hampered by the Ebola outbreak in 2014. “We clear dead bodies as well, although because of Ebola, the government has said no one should bring in bodies from other countries,” Mr Ramos explained. But with the appropriate paper work signed by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), human remains can be cleared, at a cost of about $600.

The Funeral Home

The funeral is a one stop shop for bereaved families, offering services from recovery – picking up a corpse, organising a wake, down to interment or cremation. It is a business mostly established by graduates of mortuary science to cater to an inevitable end of humanity, just as hospitals are established to care for the sick. And though they are not widely popular in this side of the world, in America, it is considered a needed establishment in every state.

Funeral homes operate under the ‘your wish is my command’ cliché, they plan and organise services in accordance with the wishes of bereaved families. A funeral package includes embalming, morgue, cremation, the sale of funeral merchandise, wreath and pall bearers (flower girls and undertakers), brass band (brigade), a funeral coordinator, hearse, funeral planning, and burial. Some also offer pre-need services.

As explained by Barrister Omeogu, “We have the capacity to upon demise, pick up the body, to the mortuary, visit the family, to funeral planning. If it’s a busy family, we can actually plan the funeral for you, and all you have to do is attend the funeral of your loved one. After planning, we undertake the funeral.”

Facilities of a Funeral Home

The Showroom – Caskets, Urns, Wreaths, and other merchandise likely to be bought by customers are displayed here.

The Wake room – funeral wakes and service of songs are held here.

The privacy room – this is a room where families can be alone with the body of their loved ones.

The Preparation room – a room for corpse embalmment and restoration

The crematorium – a place for the cremation of a corpse

Livery – a garage for hearses

A merchant in the funeral business is no different from ‘other businessmen’, just as the funeral business itself is no different from other businesses. These men they take their job quite seriously always bearing in mind the sensitive nature of the business.  Barr Omeogu explains, “The job  itself is kind of sensitive in the sense that every family has just one opportunity to give their loved one a befitting funeral, there’s no chance for a second chance. So when we serve customers, we ensure that we give our best because the customer has to give their loved one the best.”

And unlike certain perceptions, embalmers are not stonehearted. “Embalmers have emotions too. Embalmers cry,” said Mr Aanu.  “Embalmers are normal people too. False stories and superstitions about our job shouldn’t be believed. I’ve never had a strange dream, I sleep well at night. I don’t see ghosts. It’s just that it’s not a job for the faint hearted.” Mr Aanu narrated an ordeal that tested his courage early on the job. While at work one day, the body of his beloved mother was brought to the funeral home, to be deposited in the morgue. Now Mr Aanu had no idea his mum was dead, and at the time was awaiting her arrival from a journey she embarked on over the weekend. “Nobody could hold me in this whole compound, I ran out. Unknowingly, the ambulance that brought her had gone through the back gate, and someone was collecting her body already. Just imagine you are working in a mortuary, and it’s the same mortuary that’s receiving/keeping your mother’s corpse. Your mother you didn’t know had died.” Mr Aanu stayed home for about two months, but soon got back to work.

Aside from courage, these merchants say the business makes them more humane, and appreciative of life. With little regard for material things, “Some people think driving the latest cars or having billions in your account is all there is to life. I used to see life like that, but I don’t anymore because of this business,” said Barr Omeogu. And for Mr Aanu, “everything is vanity.”