About 300 graves have been exposed by erosion at Albishir cemetary inTudun Murtala quarters, Nassarawa local government area of Kano state.
Kano Chronicle observed that although the corpses were not uncovered to the surface but the pots that were used to cover the graves were completely exposed.
Our reporter gathered that for many years, residents of the area have been battling with the erosion at the cemetery through communal efforts to safeguard the graves.
Malam Hamisu Ibrahim Tudun Murtala told our reporter that for about five years now they had been battling with erosion at the cemetery, saying “We have been patching the graves to safeguard them from collapse. We have been doing that through communal efforts with little help from government.
“We have some elderly persons that are manning the cemetery for many years, but unfortunately local government has stopped paying them the stipend of N5, 000 it has earlier promised. If not because of their consistent efforts to man the cemetery, this place (the graveyard) cannot be managed by now.”
One of the people that are currently handling the graveyard, Malam Usman Aliyu, said for the past 18 months, they had not been paid their monthly allowances which was reduced to N3,000 from N5, 000.
“We are just managing the cemetery for the sake of Allah the Almighty.
However, some individuals do assist with working tools and some token amount. Apart from this, we are not receiving anything as salary. We are appealing to government to come to our aide before the situation will go out of control.
“If left unchecked, the situation will become worst to the extent that we cannot control it. I am sure by next year’s rainy season, more graves will be eroded by erosion and if it happens, I don’t think we can handle the situation,” he said.
