Nigeria’s funeral industry booms over rising demand for burial vaults 

.. Investors snatch available land for cemetery

Nigeria’s funeral industry is experiencing a boom with investors and funeral homes operators scrambling for land to build cemeteries as demand for private resting grounds spikes, Business Hallmark can report.

Though, official death statistics in the country are largely opaque and unreliable, the surge in the cost of burial services, especially burial grounds across the country, suggests a funeral market that is growing fast.

In Nigeria, the cemetery business principally revolves around providing final resting places for the dead. It, however, involves more, especially the preparation of the slots (digging, blocks laying, plastering, tilling and painting) before burial.

Some of the cemeteries also provide after burial services, which include the maintenance of the burial grounds like weeding and provision of security by cemetery staff at an expense borne by the deceased families.

Majority of Nigerians, it would be recalled, had in the past favored burying their dead inside family compounds. The remaining few, especially the elite, made use of available public cemeteries owned by government and religious houses, especially churches.

However, with public cemeteries filled up and their owners unable to acquire new lands as replacements, private cemeteries began  experiencing boom with many investors setting up burial grounds containing general plots and exclusive family vaults for interested mourners.

Status Symbols

Many Nigerians, especially those from the South Western part of the country, have embraced the services of the private cemeteries, preferring to bury their dead in “befitting” sites far away from problematic family grounds.

Some of the factors fueling the surge of private cemeteries are rising cases of theft of burial materials, and sometimes corpses buried in public cemeteries by grave robbers; disputes from the allocation of old burial plots to new tenants; frequent disputes over allocation of family lands for burial; the rising embrace of private cemeteries by urbane Nigerians, particularly those in the diaspora, as well as the deplorable condition of most public cemeteries in the country after years of neglect.

According to available statistics, Nigeria has a total of 473 documented cemeteries as of October 15, 2025, with Lagos alone accounting for 36.

However, operators in the industry maintained that there could be several smaller cemeteries not captured by the data.

Owing to the poor conditions of most public cemeteries in Nigeria, especially those in  Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, newer cemeteries are being set up daily to meet the rising demands of mourners looking for befitting resting place for their departed ones.

According to BH findings, several of these well maintained cemeteries have sprang up across the state, adding to the beauty and general ambience of the host communities.

They include the Vaults and Gardens, Lekki, formerly known as the Victoria Court Cemetery (VCC); Vaults and Gardens, Ikoyi; Vaults and Gardens, Ibeju-Lekki; Ebony Vaults, Ikoyi and the Ebony Millennium Cemetery, Yaba.

Compared to public-owned cemeteries, these posh and well maintained cemeteries are the preferred rest haven for the departed friends, relatives and loved ones of the rich and affluent.

Checks revealed that the vaults come in different categories: Low Density, Medium Low Density, Special Medium Density, Medium High Density, High-Density, Special Density and  Mausoleums.

They don’t, however, come cheap. To get a tomb in one of these pricey cemeteries, one will need to cough out between N30 million to N100 million.

The most expensive of them are the mausoleums, which are built to subscribers taste. Designed as family vaults, they normally house four to six corpses.

Apart from high premium cemeteries, medium final resting grounds for middle class and relatively comfortable Nigerians, who can not afford to bury their dead in Vaults and Gardens, Ebony Vaults and Ebony Millennium Cemeteries are also springing up in several parts of Lagos State.

Some of the cemeteries are the Omega Memorial Garden  in Ojodu and the Omega Memorial Garden in Alagbado, Lagos, owned by Omega Funeral Homes.

In this cemeteries and other medium funeral grounds, burial slots and vaults range between N1.5million to N25 million.

Booming Business

Burial plots in Lagos private cemeteries, sources explained, are quite on the high side  because they are mostly sited in the heart of major cities where lands are very hard and expensive to come by.

In the same vein, burial grounds for average Nigerians are springing up in Lagos suburbs like Alagbado, Ayobo, Ipaja, Ikorodu and Epe.

A plot for burial in these cemeteries usually goes for between N500,000 to N2.5 million, depending on available facilities and funeral services rendered.

For instance, while completed vaults with laid out blocks and covering slabs can go for as high as N2.5million to N3 million in these cemeteries, families needing final resting places for their departed ones in unmarked graves can get a slot (4ft by 7ft) for as low as N500,000.

For those, who can not afford these funeral facilities, they have the options of taking the bodies of their loved ones to their hometowns for burial, or look for cheaper burial sites in neighboring Ogun and Oyo communities. Many churches and religious bodies also offer cheap burial grounds. For instance, Living Faith Church, aka Winners, offer spaces for between N200,000 and N500,000.

Some local chiefs and landowners in Lagos, who spoke to our correspondent on the matter confirmed that the demand by investors for lands to build cemeteries has lately been on the rise lately.

According to Chief Theophilus Gbadehan, the Head of the Gbadehan Family House in Ayobo, Lagos, the family recently sold large expanse of land to the proprietor of a popular funeral home in Lagos, who needed the land for a cemetery.

“We had held the land for several years and had refused all entreaties from interested buyers until we received a massive offer from a buyer, who confirmed to us that he planned using the land for a burial ground.

“Though, some of family representatives initially harbored the fear of accommodating the dead in our midst, the lure of a massive windfall from a practically worthless land won them over.

“Some of us went home with as much as N20 million from the income realized from  selling the land. We are not even opposed to welcoming more investors looking for lands for cemeteries in our community, as long as they are ready to offer us good prices for our lands,” Chief Gbadehan declared.

Integrated Services

A funeral home manager in Lagos, Bayo Akeju, popularly known as Olowoposi (meaning one that earns money from coffins), confided in BH that the business of catering for the dead is a very lucrative one.

According to the undertaker, apart from the usual fees paid to funeral homes owners for burial plots, the owners and their workers also smile home with huge fortunes earned from associated services.

“For example, the price of grave digging, block laying, plastering and tilling of graves, coffin construction, hearse rental, clothing of the dead and headstones on graves have all soared.

“You also pay extra fees if you want a burial service for your dead. We have chapels, as well as chaplains and Imams on our payroll, who conduct burial ceremonies for willing clients.

“Catering for the dead is a big business. Unfortunately, most Nigerians are not looking that way, yet there is massive unemployment in the land.

“But I can tell you without mincing words that there is no way you can ever be poor if you are engaged in funeral business,” the funeral homes manager disclosed