Repatriation from the UK to Nigeria: what families ask us

Every country has one or two things that are its own, and a family arranging a repatriation to Nigeria meets them early. This guide is the questions Nigerian families ask us most, answered as we answer them on the phone. It does not repeat the price and the timing for the route; those are on the Nigeria route page as estimates, and the honest version of both depends on your case.

Does he have to go by air?

Yes. There is no road route, so your loved one travels by air on a scheduled flight to Lagos or Abuja, in a coffin prepared to the airline’s standard, and a funeral director in Nigeria collects from the cargo terminal. Which airport depends on where the funeral is and which airline has cargo space that week; a direct flight is better than a connection, because the coffin is handled once fewer. By road or by air explains how air transport works for a person who has died.

What does the High Commission need?

The Nigeria High Commission in London issues the permit that lets your loved one enter Nigeria, which families know as the burial transit permit or the letter of permission to ship. To issue it, the High Commission wants certified copies of the UK death certificate showing the cause of death, a burial permit, your loved one’s passport, the funeral director’s letter confirming the embalming and the sealed metal casket, a separate statement that the casket holds only your loved one, a letter from a health official that the death was not from a contagious disease, a letter from the family naming who will receive him in Nigeria, and its fee. It quotes a few working days for a complete file, and that timetable is one of the things that decides the date. We deal with the High Commission directly and tell you when the permit is in hand.

Why is the coffin different?

Nigeria requires a body to arrive embalmed and in a sealed metal casket, and the airline requires the same for the flight. It is heavier and more expensive than the sealed wooden coffin a road repatriation to Europe uses, and it is why the Nigeria estimate sits in the band it does. The casket is included in our figure; a family that wants a particular casket for the burial at home can buy it in Nigeria, where it is usually cheaper, and transfer your loved one there.

What is the free from infection document?

A declaration that the cause of death was not an infectious disease, which Nigeria and the airline both want to see. In the UK it is issued on the basis of the medical certificate of cause of death, and where the death was from an infectious disease the repatriation is still usually possible with additional precautions; repatriation when the cause of death is infectious explains that case.

Which documents, and in what order?

The UK death certificate from the registrar; the coroner’s acknowledgement of the notice that your loved one is leaving England, which takes up to four clear days and which we send on day one; the embalming and casket certificates; the death certificate legalised by the Foreign Office and then by the High Commission, because Nigeria is outside the Apostille Convention; the non-contagious disease letter; the family’s letter naming who receives him; the High Commission’s permit; the airline’s cargo booking. What documents does a repatriation need explains each, and the order matters because the High Commission wants the whole file before it will issue the permit.

Who receives him in Nigeria?

A funeral director in Nigeria, who meets the flight, collects your loved one and the documents, and takes him to the mortuary or to the family. We hand over to a funeral director we work with, or to the one your family has already chosen, and their charges for the collection, any time in their care and the funeral are theirs and separate from ours. Tell us early who it is; the airport, the airline and the permit all depend on it.

What does it cost, and who pays?

Every figure we publish is an estimate, and for Nigeria the estimate is in the band for air repatriations to Africa, driven by the flight and the metal casket; how much does repatriation cost from the UK has the bands. Unless a travel or employer’s policy or the estate pays, the family does, and Nigerian families often share the cost across the family and the church; who pays for a repatriation goes through what can step in.

What should I have ready when I ring?

Where your loved one is now and whether a doctor has confirmed the death; whether the coroner is involved; his Nigerian passport or its number; the town where the funeral will be and, if you know it, the funeral director there; and who in the family is making the decisions. With those five things we can tell you the route, the documents and the shape of the timetable on the first call. Repatriation, step by step is the whole process, of which Nigeria’s particulars are the six above.