As part of activities to Mark his 25th priestly anniversary, Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe invited the former President Olusegun Obasanjo for a groundbreaking ceremony for the establishment of a special school for people with special needs.
Obasanjo who arrived Makurdi, the Benue state capital, Sunday afternoon, will today, Monday November 4, 2019, proceed to Igbor, Gwer East local government area, under Ikpa-yongo Deanery, the location and site for the The proposed school for the groundbreaking.
Briefing newsmen in Makurdi, the Director of Communication, Makurdi Diocese, Fr. Moses Iorapuu said Anniversaries are common occasions for thanksgiving and merry making among family members and friends “but Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, the Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi has chosen to add another value to his anniversary.
“In consonance with the injunction on his coat of arms ‘Serverum Iesu et Fratres,’ to serve Jesus and his brethren, he is taking service to the group that the society has ignored for a long time in the past,” saying the Bishop is raising funds to build a Special School for People with Special Needs.
According to him, the school will provide facilities, equipment and other resources needed for the education of those who are physically, emotionally and spiritually discriminated against by the society including members of their families.
Fr. Iorapuu said the pet project includes those with visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical and health impairment, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, multiple disabilities, the gifted and talented and albinos who suffer stigmatization and stereotypes.
He stated that Makurdi Diocese has remained committed to the care of the people especially the marginalized and that the thrust of Bishop Wilfred since his Episcopal ordination has been to build and sustain what the other missionaries established.
“All the hospitals and clinics and primary and secondary schools found across Benue State and beyond are the fruits of missionary sacrifice: the missionary clergy and the missionary laity.
“For others, the Church has done enough as an alternative government but for Bishop Anagbe, the diocese has been absent in the provision of access to education for people with special needs, besides the earlier efforts that established St. Peter’s School for the Deaf and Dumb at Vande-IKya, Benue State.”
He insisted that the Church cannot afford to ignore people with special needs and still claim to be inclusive and sharing with the downtrodden as Jesus instructed.
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He said Bishop Wilfred has already accomplished major projects in a short time including the construction of Our Lady of Consolation Secondary School Agan, Makurdi, for the internally displaced persons, (lDPs), Se Sugh U Maria Pilgrimage Centre, Ayati, Tailoring Institute, farm projects for crops and livestock, a water factory, a clinic at Aondoana and another clinic, school and water project at Mbalom even before the massacre of the two priests and some of their parishioners in 2018.
He said all donations realized will enable the diocese raise the ante in the space of service delivery to the masses.
Fr. Iorapuu noted that it is the Bishop’s expectation that just as the regular schools and hospitals made the difference in the lives of Benue citizens, both Christians and non Christians, the project will be a game-changer in the involvent of the church in the lives of the Benue citizens.
Other activites to mark the silver jubilee includes a visit to the IDP camps at Agan and Daudu and a Holy Mass with the children and staff of all Catholic schools in the diocese on November 6 and a Fundraising dinner on November 7 for the needed funds for the establishment of this special school.
