How-to
How to Write a Biography for a Nigerian Burial Programme
Write an accurate burial programme biography with a life outline, a fictional example and a final family approval checklist.
A printer asks for the biography, and suddenly the family needs dates nobody has written down. Which school did Mum attend first? When did Dad move to Kaduna? Was the shop opened before or after the wedding?
A burial programme biography tells the story of a person's life in a clear order. Unlike a personal tribute, it usually speaks for the family rather than one individual. Start with the facts you can confirm, then add the details that make those facts worth reading.
Gather the facts before writing
Choose one person to collect information and one relative to approve the finished copy. Several people can contribute, but a biography written by committee in a WhatsApp chat can quickly acquire three different birth dates.
Collect the person's full name, preferred name, birthplace, parents' names where appropriate, education, work, family life, community involvement and date of death. Check spellings against reliable family records. A nickname may belong in the story, but it should not accidentally replace the name the family wants on the cover.
If a date cannot be established, use an honest description such as "in the early 1980s". Do not turn a relative's guess into a precise year. Keep disputed details out until they are resolved.
Use a simple life order
This outline is a starting point, not a requirement to include everything:
Name, birth and early home life.
Schooling, training or the skills they learned.
Work and the places they lived.
Marriage, children and important relationships, with the family's agreement.
Faith, friendships, interests and community service.
Their later years and the family they leave behind, where appropriate.
Leave room for ordinary life. Someone who sold provisions for thirty years deserves more than a sentence saying they were a trader. Who did they know? What did their customers remember? What did the work make possible for their children?
For page layout and the rest of the booklet, see our guide to designing a burial programme.
A short fictional example
The following example is invented to show the structure. Replace the details with your family's own verified information.
Mrs Bisi Akinwale grew up in Ibadan, where she learned sewing from her mother. After completing her training, she opened a small tailoring shop and worked there for more than three decades.
Her customers knew her for careful finishing and plain advice about fabric. At home, she kept a tin of buttons that her grandchildren were allowed to sort but never throw away. She enjoyed choir practice, Saturday visits from her sisters and teaching younger women to sew.
Her family remembers her patience with beginners and the way she made space at the table whenever someone arrived unexpectedly.
The small details carry the story. You do not need to call someone "a rare gem" if you can describe what they actually did.
Check what belongs in public
Ask before including a cause of death, adoption, separation, family disagreement or private medical information. A programme may be photographed and circulated far beyond the funeral. The biography does not have to explain every difficult part of a person's life.
Read the final version aloud. Remove repeated praise, check names again and send one clearly labelled approved file to the designer. If you also need a shorter public notice, use the separate guide to writing an obituary in Nigeria.
Keep the approved biography with the family's photographs. It can also form part of an online memorial, where relatives who could not attend can read the same account of the life being remembered.
Keep the finished biography somewhere the family can return to. Create a tribute on CelebrateThem and share the life story alongside agreed photographs.