A Socio-Legal Investigation into the Perception of Dying and Death among Adults in EBO Community, Southern Nigeria

Abstract

This study was initiated to socio-legally investigate the perception of dying and death amongst adults in Ebo Community in Southern, Nigeria. In most traditional communities, it would appear that the perception of people about death is wrapped up in their fear of the inevitable occurrence. Little wonder that discussions and preparations are not made towards it. The study which is both exploratory and qualitative employed a cross-sectional design. A combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques was utilized to collect data from the respondents. A total of 100 respondents were quantitatively sampled while 20 in-depth interviews were also conducted. A descriptive analysis of the quantitative data collected was undertaken using frequency distribution while the manual content analysis was used for qualitative data collected from the field work. Findings from this investigation showed that almost all deaths in Ebo Community in Southern Nigeria were attributed to witchcraft and that the people see death as a frightening and scaring phenomenon that should neither be talked about nor legally prepared for. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made that the media, church and other credible agents of socialization should engage in enlightenment campaign programmes to create awareness that dying and death are not caused by witchcraft and besides, people should feel free to discuss and prepare legally for this natural inevitability.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n3p255