… Confirms 170, Hails Turnout of Little Children, Maintains Stance On Burial Law, Warns Against Erecting
Structure Without Approvals From Diocesan Building Committee, Speaks On Peter University
By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu and R.A.Yakubu Wise
St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Awba-Ofemmili, in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, was agog on Sunday 18 May 2025, as the Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship, Most Reverend Paulinus Ezeokafor, paid a pastoral visit 10 years after his last. According to him, the last time he visited on a pastoral function was in the year 2015, even as he acknowledged that he had been visiting for other purposes.
Bishop Ezeokafor, who said he arrived St. Paul’s Parish the previous evening and slept over, noted that it availed him the opportunity to interact with various groups and some of the parishioners to get first hand information and complaints.
The Prelate during his visit administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on 170 candidates and praised the Parish for the turnout of little children at the Mass, saying that the future looked very bright by their presence and participation. He added that any society without the younger generation would naturally go into extinction.
The Local Ordinary cleared the air on the issue of the existing burial law, saying that he received a complaint that the 2 months burial timeline was too short, but explained that it was for the good of the common man.
‘This law was made by the House of Assembly members and passed into law. It followed all the processes. I was somewhere in Nnewi South Local Government Area where I attended a funeral. I talked about befitting living and not befitting burial.
I asked the people to cut their coat according to their cloth. After the Mass, the then member representing Nnewi South I State Constituency, Hon. Kingsley Iruba, came to me and told me that he was truly touched by my message and asked me how he wished it would come into force.
‘After my discussion with him, he and one House of Assembly member, Hon. Charles Ezeani, representing Anaocha II State Constituency, initiated the process of making a law. It passed through first, second, and third readings, including public hearing. It was passed and assented to by the then Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano. I am in full support of the law. Use that money you’re saving for the funeral to do something meaningful. Stop selling your lands and property just because you want to bury the dead. Do the little you can,’ he advised.
Bishop Ezeokafor warned that no structure or renovation would take place in any parish in the Diocese without the knowledge of the Diocesan Building Committee, stating that the reason was to guard against wastage, wrong positioning of structures, building without a site plan and duplication. He informed those saying that Peter University had been completed and needed no money again that running a university demanded huge and steady funding.
‘University is not like primary or secondary schools where once you get the needed structures in place, you are done. The government at all levels gives out huge sums to these universities. Ours is not like that. We pay quality lecturers and erect structures from school fees paid by the students.
What we do is to give scholarships to the indigent students at least one person per Deanery. We need more money to build structures and pay salaries. A lot is going into Peter University. It is not really centred on profit making. It is about moulding future leaders and not the clever criminals we have today in various places.
‘Character formation is part of the reason the citadel of learning was floated. If we use one-third of the money we expend here to build a factory, we will be raking in millions. We left that aspect of business venture to embark on training God-fearing students that will add serious and positive values to society in the future,’ Bishop Ezeokafor stated.
In their separate speeches, the Traditional Ruler of Awba-Ofemmili, Igwe Ernest Mmaduagwuna (Ofe-mmili of Awba-Ofemmili); the Chairman of the occasion, Chief Edmund Okafor; the Laity Council Chairman, Sir George Agunwa, KSJI; and the Parish Pastoral Council Secretary, Mr. Polycarp Mekoh, showered praises on Bishop Ezeokafor for his fatherly presence and love, even as they described him as a good, loving, caring and tireless shepherd.
Some of the priests who accompanied the Bishop to St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Awba-Ofemmili, included the Diocesan Chancellor, Reverend Fr Charles Ndubuisi; Dean of Deaneries, and PP of St. Joseph’s Ebenebe, Rev. Fr. Anthony Mbaonu; Bishop’s Secretary, Rev Fr. Evaristus Ifeanacho; the Diocesan Bursar, Reverend Fr. Nicodemus Izuchukwu; Rev. Fr. Justin Ezechukwu; Rev. Fr. Christian Okafor; PP Blessed Iwene Tansi Parish, Ebenebe, Rev Fr. Callistus Nworgu; Manager, Holy Spirit Secondary School, Ebenebe, among others.