On 1 January, hundreds of people in Abajah, Nigeria, turned out for the unveiling of a giant statue of Jesus, thought to be the largest figure of Christ ever erected in Africa. Dubbed Jesus the Greatest and carved in white marble, it stands 28 ft. (8½ meters) high and weighs 40 tons. The statue was commissioned in 2013 by Obinna Onuoha, the owner of a Nigerian oil and gas distribution firm, and was built by a Chinese company. “It is the biggest statue of Jesus on the continent,” Onuoha declared.
The statue, which depicts a barefoot Jesus with his arms outstretched in welcome, towers over St. Aloysius Catholic Church. Bishop Augustine Tochukwu Okwuoma of the Orlu Diocese, who presided over the unveiling ceremony, said that “this magnificent statue is a very great symbol of faith for Christians” in a country that has been plagued by Islamic militant uprisings for the past 6 years.