•It’s Called Vaults & Gardens Cemetery, Ikoyi
•Where A Mausoleum Costs N20m
Have you ever wondered the millions the rich spend on burying their departed ones? It will amaze you the extent to which many people go in giving their loved ones a befitting burial.
Almost gone are the days when people just bury their dead ones anywhere. Though burying at individual homes is still common, but with the advent of modern technologies, many would rather bury their dead in a private, safe place where memories of the departed one will linger for many generations of children. One of the private cemeteries in Lagos and even Nigeria in general, that currently enjoys the patronage of the super rich is Vaults and Gardens, Ikoyi Lagos. In the last few months, many rich celebs have been trooping to Vaults and Garden to buy secured spaces for their loved ones before and after death comes calling. There are some rich celebrities who are not dead yet but have spacious vaults available at Vaults and Garden cemetery. This has become a norm in recent times especially this period when the world is experiencing COVID 19. Many celebs in the diaspora are not left out of this arrangement as they have also started buying down vaults to keep at the private cemetery. In the last few months, most celebrities who died have been buried at this private cemetery.
Owners of private cemeteries are now smiling to the bank as the rich shun public burial grounds to give their departed loved ones decent final places of rest. Lagos Big boy, Ade Ogundeyin is the brain behind Vaults and Gardens. Though highly reserved, his works speak a lot for him. Hardly will you know about the face behind the multimillion naira investment. He has placed vaults and Garden on high pedestral. The fence of the Vault looks more or less like a museum or a castle fence. The well cut and lush flowers around the premises give the place the look of a relaxation park. It has offices and chapel for funeral services. The vaults have been dug, slabs are already there, and there is a walkway between 2 vaults, so there is no need to walk across one vault to get to the other. Vaults & Gardens is the most exquisite and aesthetically beautiful private cemetery in the entire West African sub-region. Born out of a novel idea by O’la-Kleen Holdings, Vaults & Gardens operates a “Build Operate & Transfer (BOT) agreement” for a period of 25 (25) years with the Ikoyi/ Obalende LCDA. With total area of cemetery land estimated to be 3.7 hectares, Vaults and Gardens accommodates about 4500 vaults, a sharp contrast to what happens in public cemeteries. A walk into most public cemeteries in Nigeria is like a walk into a forest. Save for some used vaults and slabs adorning them, it is difficult for a first time visitor to identify such places as a cemetery. Apart from being overgrown with weeds, there are also no walkways between vaults as people have to walk across graves to bury fresh Corpses. These public cemeteries are usually neglected and people are often scared of going inside.
For mankind, death is an inevitable end. Whenever it comes, no matter the age of the dead, pain, sorrow and unquantifiable anguish are its accomplices. Ironically, this is simply not so for those into the business of coffin making and funeral management. Startling as it may sound, it is an undeniable fact that the undertaking business in Nigeria is a thriving one, only for the bold and the lion-hearted. There is a difference between having money and making money, the margin is a clear cut and it takes someone that is highly industrious to be both. These are the kind of people that bury their loved ones at Vaults and Gardens. They spend millions of naira to acquire a Vault or build a mausoleum for their departed loved ones. It is almost becoming a competition amongst the rich as to whose Mausoleum is best in terms of beautification and the wide space which cost a lot of millions.. For now, Ayo Ogundeyin has clients from the corridors of power and the corporate world. They scramble for his services. Vaults and Gardens has interred several dignitaries and important personalities in and outside Nigeria and still hopes to bury more.
Amongst them were Governor Fashola’s father, Pa Ademola Fashola, Pastor Eskor Mfon, Esther Osunsade, Chief Odunewu, Chief Awelenje, Pa Okome , former Gtbank MD, Tayo Aderinokun, Angela Onyeador, Otunba Gadaffi, Gbegi Ojora, Connie Madubuko, Prof Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, Akin Temple, Nike Shonibare, Titi Adenuga’s mother, Susanna Okome, Punch Chairman, Wale Aboderin,Tunji Okusanya, Bola Ahmed Tinubu mother, Pa Remi Olowude, Funke Adedoyin, Tajudeen Disu, Olorogun Micheal Ibru wife, Adebowale Ibru, Funmi Suinner, Olori Ladun Sijuwade’s Mother, Hajia Abba Folawiyo mother, Sercy Braithwaite, the Okoya-Thomas, Dapo Ojora, Bolaji Aladesuru, Margaret Ojo, Roda Adebutu, Bolu Akin Olugbade, music star Goldie, Femi Segun, The Ojoras, The Sarakis, and so on who were all handled by the leading funeral homes in Nigeria amongst many others too numerous to mention. Vaults & Gardens is situated in Ikoyi, Lagos and was established in October 2006 and commissioned by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to offer an array of distinctive options in funeral services. It always welcomes you to a resting haven for departed friends, relatives and loved ones putting your mind at rest regarding the final resting place of a loved one. It is a cynosure of excellence presented in a serene, amiable and well secured Victorian environment. The vault section is of different categories, they are all designed with unique layouts. High Density Vaults, Medium High Density, Medium Low Density, Low Density, Special Density, Special Medium Density and the Mausoleum. The most expensive of them is the mausoleum which is built to the taste of the owner. It can contain up to 4 corpses which is like a family vault depending on the client. The above celebrities all had a beautiful mausoleum in which they were buried and it ranges from 28million to 250million that was used to construct each. The amazing thing about Vault and Garden is that the rich had started planning for the burial by acquiring vaults spaces and building it before they die. Some even go to the extent of buying for their family, be it grandmother, grandfather or themselves. One of the most beautiful vault as at then was Ex-Gov. Fashola’s Father’s Mausoleum which set the pace for a high rise fencing with a large space of Land. It could be tagged the pace setter in high fencing. Close to it is Alhaja Abibatu’s Mogaji, Tinubu’s mother Mausoleum which is in form of a mosque. Both sort of look identical because of its high fencing. There have been other high fencing vaults enhanced with massive gates, doors, marbles, tiles, flowers after this and it has gradually become a norm. one unique thing that the rich are also doing with the vault is that they have taken the designs to the next level by using marbles which is very expensive to build their mausoleum and attached to it are beautiful gates which could pass for a house. We scooped that Gen Ty Danjuma, FIRS boss, Tunde Fowler, the Subomi Baloguns, the Mike Adenuga, have also bought vaults and built their mausoleum there. The 3 chambers cost about 3.8Million while the High Density goes for N6.5Million. The lowest vaults which is a regular vaults cost about N2.1Million naira, while the 2 chambers cost about 6.5Million Naira.
The mausoleum has an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the vault of the departed loved person or persons. It provides the opportunity to have a two-or-three layered vault depending on client’s specification. You cannot miss what you are looking for even if you are going for a sight-seeing, there is availability of description cursor which shows you whose vault you are looking for. All the vaults are numbered and tagged with their names. They also offer services like refurbishment of tombstones and they make provision of Chapel and Hall renting. The big man who sits atop this multi million naira business, Ade Ogundeyin is the founder and Group Managing Director of O’la-kleen Holdings, Proforce (Defence) Limited which specializes in the manufacture of Armoured Vehicles, OLK Construction Limited and Sun Metal Industrial Limited.He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. He is also an astute entrepreneur and industrialist having run the O’la-kleen Group for over 25 years. He joined West African Portland Cement Company Plc (now Lafarge Cement WAPCO Plc) as a Production Engineer for a year (During his youth service), before founding O’la-kleen Nigeria Ltd in 1986. He successfully steered O’la-kleen Holdings Ltd into becoming one of the fastest growing conglomerates in Nigeria, and the company was recently celebrated with a “TOP 100 BUSINESSES IN NIGERIA” award by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has attended several courses and international trainings and received numerous awards as an innovator and great administrator who enjoys playing at the background, Ade Ogundeyin surely knows his onions and has been living up to expectation when it comes to burying the dead and giving them a conducive environment where their loved ones can always visit over and over again.
-TAYO FAJORIN OYEDIJI
