By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
ThePrelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence,Dr Oliver Ali Aba, JP, has commissioned projects worth N384 million at the Diocese of Atamunu, otherwise known as Methodist Cathedral of Favour, Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
The capital projects initiated and executed by the Diocese of Atamunu under the leadership of Rt. Rev. Barr. Otuekong Ukut, Ph.D, is to bring spiritual and physical development to the church.
According to a youth in the host community, Mr. Elijah Bissong, the projects executed by the church has raised their hope, as some of the community youths would definitely have employment opportunity when the projects are fully put in to use or the purpose in which they were initiated.
He said, “These projects would reduced the rate of unemployment. Let’s take the secondary school, which was moved to the permanent site and the Information and Communication Technology, ICT, which is to be sited at the shopping complex, can be a source of job to young men and women with ICT knowledge.
Among the capital projects commissioned are: shopping complex, office complex, dedication of the New Susana Wesley International School blocks, situated around the Cross Roads Hotel axis, which is close to the the University of Calabar campus.
Other projects commissioned by the Prelate include: dedication of the Shopping Complex at the Diocesan Headquarters, Calabar, the laying of the foundation stone of the Bishop’s Court at No. 97 Atamunu Street, and the unveiling of the church sinage.
The Prelate charged members of the church to see the projects as their personal property, which they would not want any intruder to vandalize.
The Prelate said, “I want to charge all members of this congregation to guard the projects that I had commissioned jealousy.”
Also speaking, the Bishop of Atamunu Diocese, Rt. Rev. Barr. Otuekong, stressed that the remaining ten projects out of sixteen would be completed before the year winds to end, adding that the six projects out of the sixteen projects captured in the 2023 church budget that the leadershiip of the state church began execution of five months ago would certainly be completed by the end of the year.
Otuekong said, “We are in a hurry to complete the remaining 10 projects so that we can beautify the diocese.
“About the school, it was already established, all we wanted to do was to move it to a permanent site for spiritual and physical development.
“We are interested in building a secondary school that will meet up with international standard with facilities that would pave way for artificial and robotics intelligence to give the school a good ambience for entrepreneurship to make the kids become self reliant.”
