Abuja — The government of the Republic of China, following another diplomatic representation by the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing, has extended the deadline when the remains of all foreigners still lying in the various mortuaries in that country must be claimed or they will be cremated according to Chinese laws. The new date is now December 15, 2009.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all efforts by the Ministry and its Mission in Beijing, China, to contact the families and next-of-kin of the deceased have not been successful due to paucity of information on the deceased at the time of death.

In cases where such information were found (such as telephone numbers on some of the deceased), when they were contacted, there were no responses; in other cases, the family members who responded were not cooperative, regarding decision on what to do with the corpses of their relations. The Nigerian Mission in China indicated that the following Nigerians died in that country from various causes, ranging from sickness/illness, accidents, drowning, drugs and unknown causes. Their remains are yet to be claimed by their relations or families.

The Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry has called on the general public and in particular members and family of the deceased to urgently contact the ministry (Consular and Immigration Services Division) to indicate how they wish to arrange to repatriate the remains of their loved ones for burial in Nigeria or, in the alternative, grant appropriate approval for cremation by the Chinese authorities.

The Chinese have threatened that failure to comply with the new deadline, they would, in line with its domestic laws, cremate these bodies, some of which they said have been in the mortuaries since 2006.

It also should be noted that it is truly a gesture of goodwill, respect for Nigeria's culture and the dead, coupled with the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries that the government of the Peoples Republic of China has not over the years taken the unilateral decision to cremate the bodies.

While sympathising with the families who may have lost their loved ones and fully conscious of the hard decision involved in the present circumstances there is now an urgent and imperative need for families concerned to take the necessary decision on the remains of their deceased relatives.