On Thursday 4th day of February, the dream of a new Jesuit Secondary in our North-West Africa province got a step closer to reality as it was the day chiefs and residents of the Abbi community gathered to witness the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed Arrupe Jesuit College.

The celebration began at around 10:15 am with the Holy Mass presided over by the Episcopal Vicar of Kwale Region, Rev. Fr. Bernard Olagba representing the Bishop of Warri, His Lordship, most rev. Dr. John Oke Afareha. Several Jesuit priests, including the Provincial, concelebrated at the Mass.

A brief moment of viewing the proposed Arrupe Jesuit College’s architectural drawings followed the Holy Mass. After the viewing of the drawings came the anticipated moment of the day, the ground-breaking ceremony. Rev. Fr. Bernard Olagba representing the bishop of Warri Diocese, led the rituals for blessing a new land and afterward laid the symbolic foundation stone.

Representatives of the Church, State, and indigenes capped the ground-breaking ceremony with speeches. The first of those speeches came from the Bishop of Warri’s representative, Rev. Fr. Bernard Olagba. In his remarks, he thanked God for making the event possible; also, he expressed gratitude to Mr. Austin Avuru and the Austin Avuru Foundation for collaborating with the Jesuits to improve the standards of education in the Abbi community that is part of the Warri diocese.

The second speaker, Honourable Patrick Ukah, the Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, applauded the Jesuits and the Austin Avuru Foundation’s efforts to establish a Jesuit Secondary School in Delta State. He assured the gathering of the government’s readiness to collaborate with the various stakeholders.

Fr. Provincial, Chukwuyenum Afiawari, SJ, thanked everyone present during his speech while extending an invitation of collaboration to the chiefs who are the custodians of Abbi. During his speech, Fr. Chuks also assured the people gathered of the Jesuits’ commitment to providing quality education to the people of Abbi, Delta State, Nigeria, and the world at large.

The last address came from Mr. Johnnie Eni, who represented Mr. Austin Avuru, who was unavoidably absent. Mr. Eni thanked everyone present and reiterated Mr. Austin Avuru’s commitment to seeing Arrupe Jesuit College’s a reality.