Catholic to build N1.5bn church

Reverend Father Innocent Jooji, the Parish Priest of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Wuse, Abuja, on Monday said that the parish would raise N1.5 billion to remodel its building.

Jooji, who announced the plan at a news conference in Abuja, said that the present building had become inadequate for parishioners to worship.

“When completed, worshippers who are usually exposed to sun and rain and have to leave during liturgical celebrations, will no longer leave.

“We have decided to remodel the church in order to create conducive atmosphere for prayer,” he said.

He said that to be able to raise enough fund for the project, a fund-raising dinner had s been put together for July 2.

Jooji said the redesigned building took cognisance of all the liturgical requirements that would stand the test of time.

He said that the new church building would have a seating capacity of 2,350 as against the 1,200 in the old church.

Jooji also said that the parish accommodated about 5,000 worshippers every Sunday as against 600 in 1980.

On the current security challenge in the country, Jooji urged Nigerians to be involved in the fight against insurgency as the military could not do it alone.

“Security challenge is everybody’s concern, security operatives rely on the information given to them,” the priest said.