From: Petrus Obi, Enugu
As part of its social responsibility to the society and commitment to the war against unemployment, the Catholic Church Nigeria, has concluded plans to create over 100 job opportunities and also engage many more in youth empowerment programmes for self-reliance.
The Church, through its apostolate order, Knights of the St. John International (KSJI), has therefore announced plans to build 500-room guests centre in Enugu.
Addressing journalists as part of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the Order, its leader Anslem Okafor, noted that the centre, which would also serve as retreat and empowerment centre, would be built at the cost of about N1.5 billion, saying that it was part of the Order’s commitment to provide employment for the teeming youths of the country.
Speaking on the project, Chairman of the Fund Raising Committee and National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, disclosed that the centre would serve as a national base of the Order in Nigeria.
The centre is being sited on a 28-plots of land along Enugu-Abakaliki highway, Emene and about 10 minutes drive from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu State.
Nwodo also said that the Centre, upon completion, wouldl provide employment to at least 100 youths, while contributing to the economic development of the state and Nigeria in general.
On her part, former Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Adaku Onwuliri, said other facilities in the Centre would include an Empowerment/ICT unit to help train youths in order to arrest restiveness, a retreat centre and modern sporting facilities for individuals and groups as well as a free medical clinic for indigent members of the society.
She said that the Order was committed to putting in place lasting legacies that will outlive “our generation and a reference point to our people”, adding that they had set out the next 24 months for the realisation of the project.