The Diocese of Okene, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in Kogi State, has barred members from burying their departed relatives immediately, insisting that a minimum period of two weeks must elapse before any burial arrangement is concluded. This is contained in a communique reached at the 1st Session of the 6th Synod of the Diocese, jointly signed by the Chairman and Bishop, Dr Emmanuel Onsachi, alongside the Clerical Synod Secretary, Venerable Godwin Omanayin.
The Synod held at St. Paul's Anglican Church, Obeiba, Ihima, from Friday 7th to 9th August 2026. According to the resolution: "in view of the need to continue to allow members of the Church to have enough time to prepare for and organize befitting burial programmes to honour their departed parents, it is therefore resolved that a minimum period of 2 weeks be allowed for them to prepare for the burial arrangements as our members should also be encouraged that no evil consequence would follow such resolve for the bodies of their departed parents through embalming."
Some children had often buried their parents within one week or less, following parental instructions for their remains not to be kept in the morgue for over a week - but the diocese has now said that such instructions given by the deceased while alive must be discountenanced, saying there are no consequences for not honouring the instructions of their deceased parents. The move will allow families to give a "befitting" burial to their departed.
In a related resolution, the Diocese banned the use of externally sourced undertakers during burial programmes across the Diocese, directing instead that the Boys Brigade in various parishes be engaged for such duties. Beyond burial matters, the Synod resolved that the Church shall put in place a policy for determining year to year the areas in which to invest, including soft loans to improve members' economic well-being; directed that members in the diaspora remit at least 50% of their tithe to their home churches for the year to support the growth of the Church; charged its churches to embark on intentional and aggressive evangelism to increase membership; set aside the third Sunday of every month as Youth Sunday; and resolved that after completing JSS 3, children are to leave Sunday School and move into the adult church, with the transition formally taking place on 27th May every year.
The resolutions, dated 12th August 2026, were adopted for implementation throughout the Diocese of Okene. (Source: VanguardNGR; images from the Anglican Diocese of Okene Facebook page.)
