Elegant Mundane Things

Billfold cemetery correspondent William Foster was googling “most expensive burial 2013” when he dug up this news item out of Nigeria:

“The owner of telecommunication giant, Globacom, Otunba Mike Adenuga is gradually preparing for death. The billionaire businessman has bought a burial spot for a whopping N200 million naira … The cemetery has reserved spots for wealthy and super wealthy folks. The space for the wealthy starts from N750,000 and above while the super wealthy spots cost around N40 million and above. The 2nd portion has a beautiful gate, garden, and all sort of elegant mundane things … Of what use is a beautiful burial ground after death? Will it secure them a place in heaven? Na wa o!”

Mr. Foster informs me that “Na wa o” translates as “damn,” “WTF,” or “unbelievable,” and that N200 million is US$1,242,236. Mike Adenuga is the second richest man in Nigeria and the fifth richest in Africa, according to Forbes.

A further google search by Mr. Foster — “where are nigerian peasants buried?” — led to a different cemetery in the same city, this one “overgrown with weeds and bushes, and there are growing incidents of human parts cartels stopping by.”

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