Chief Dr. Kevin Chukwumobi, Nigeria’s foremost undertaker and CEO of Apams Funeral Limited, has reflected on his impressive journey of transforming the country’s funeral industry, turning what was once a rustic, chaotic affair into a modern, structured enterprise that now serves as a model across Africa.
Speaking in an interview, Dr. Chukwumobi recalled how funerals in Nigeria were previously riddled with disorder, exploitation, and undue stress for bereaved families.
In those days, he explained, arranging a burial meant navigating unreliable service providers, disorganized logistics, and cultural superstitions.
He also recalled that in those days, most families often faced deception from hearse operators who claimed that the deceased/the corpse “refused to go home”, just as a means of extorting money from the bereaved family under the guise of performing one or two things to make the corpse go home.
According to him, these and others were the realities Apams Funeral Ltd changed by venturing into burial undertaking services.
He said he changed the narrative by professionalizing key aspects of funeral management, both from ambulances and caskets to grave-lowering devices, all for a primary purpose of creating a one-stop structure that relieved mourners and bereaved families of unnecessary burdens.
Dr. Chukwumobi noted that, today, instead of scrambling for caskets or struggling to find reliable handlers, bereaved families can simply walk into any of Apams’ casket centers or offices nationwide to access ready services.
Before Apams, he recalled, families and mourners often became sick from the physical and emotional stress of managing burial arrangements, but now, with Apams and its well-organized packages, families can only focus on mourning and remembrance rather than logistics.
According to him, the company has also revolutionized corpse transportation, enabling families to fly loved ones home from cities like Lagos and Abuja within minutes, a process, he said, previously took grueling road journeys.
The Apams CEO said another landmark innovation of the company was the introduction of mechanical lowering devices, which ended years of exploitation by local youths who charged exorbitant amounts of money from mourners to lower caskets into graves. These innovations, he emphasized, were not only about convenience but about dignity, decency, and giving families peace of mind at their most vulnerable moments.
“Virtually every modern innovation you see in today’s burial practices was pioneered by Apams,” he reflected, noting that the transformation has also opened up numerous job opportunities and professionalized an industry once regarded with fear and disdain.
Concluding, Dr. Chukwumobi said the story of Apams was one of vision, resilience, and service, describing it as a revolution that has forever changed how Nigerians bury their dead and loved ones.
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