It was a day of jubilation, excitement and merriment as the people of Nkwe community in Awgu local government area, Enugu and its neighbouring communities trooped out and gathered in mass at the newly built St. Peters catholic church to experience the handing over of the parish to the community.

The handing over which took place on the 31st of December by Bishop J.I Okoye and Dr. Uche Uzochukwu and his family who singlehandedly built the church was a remarkable experience as it changed the status of the church from a station to a parish.

The remarkable event witnessed the attendance of dignitaries and top politicians as the governor of Enugu state, His excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and deputy minority leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, Enugu State House of Assembly Chief Whip, Hon Jane Eneh, Member Representing Awgu South in Enugu state house of assembly, Hon Johnson Okwudiri Chukwuobasi among others graced the event.

Speaking to UGAMATV, the man of the hour, Dr Uche Uzochukwu cautioned that it was wrong to say he gave the people of Nkwe community a church, but rather he was a vessel which God used to deliver the church to his people.

While revealing his motivation for putting up the building, he said “God have shown mercy on me and my family, and what we are doing is just to show gratitude to him for what he has done for me. My community is a community that loves Christ and the least I can do for them is to provide a place of worship for them since God has given me the resources to do that”.

Speaking on how he plans to leverage on the presence of the government officials in the parish hand over for the betterment of his community, Dr. Uche said, “The government has been magnanimous to my community. What I do is that I enjoy friendship and relate with people, I appreciate friendship. I don’t believe in dealing with people because they occupy positions of authority.

“I believe in long standing friendship which is one of the things I value in life. They didn’t come here for me to start asking for what they can do for my people, if it pleases God he will put it in their heart for them to do it. If you look at the community it is very backward and typographically challenged, but it will not deny government presence here. The government has been doing its best to make sure that our place is not left out.

Adding that he will do much more for his people, he said “I want my people to expect good relationship and more good things from me to them as a son. Poverty humbled me but that notwithstanding, am not greedy and believe in what I can do for humanity”.

Mrs ifeoma Uche Uzochukwu, Dr. Uche’s wife while speaking with UGAMATV revealed that their motive of building the parish is to give thanks to God for all he has done in our lives all these years.

“My husband and I come from humble beginnings and ever since I got married I met this community being a station of a parish and being a station they don’t have so many privileges accorded to a main parish, and they have been a station for over 20 years now.

“We thought that it will be a good thing for us to help with development of the church to aid in the evangelization of the people, because getting the church to the grass root will mean having a parish and having the parish being able to get to many more people than it would have as just a station under a parish, so we looked at that and looked at everything God has done for us and decided to do something for the community”, she said.

Revealing that her husband’s grandparents were very instrumental in bringing in the Catholic Church into the community, she said “its bad that for so many years after wards the church has not been able to become a parish. We feel happy and overwhelmed because the blessings God has given to us cannot be quantified.

“My advice to others is that whoever has whatever he has should contribute to the development of the church, because if the church develops, the whole town will be spiritually alive and development will spring up from there. Whatever you have do something, don’t wait till you have millions first, you might start out with whatever you have and as you go along you will see that god will provide more for you”, she concluded.

Dr. Uzochukwu’s daughter, Chiamaka Uzochukwu, praised her father for his selflessness and love for his people, while saying “Today we are dedicating the new St. Peters Nkwe parish that was reconstructed by my father for the community.

“It’s a wonderful feet because they have been managing the small church for so long and this new parish have alleviated the stress from the community and so we are grateful to him for doing this.

“Am very proud of him. He is very selfless, there is so much he does for this community that shows that it comes from a place of just caring for others. Every time he does something like this I feel overwhelmed. The people are happy, surprised and can’t really believe the building was ready by Christmas. I hope to continue what my father has been doing because it will be bad for his legacy to end”, Chiamaka said.

A former Enugu State governorship aspirant Echebe who was present at the event applauded Dr. Uzochukwu, saying “Today is a beautiful day in the history of Awgu as it’s the dedication of a church in Awgu diocese. For those who are not catholic, a church dedication is a birth of a parish that can never be removed again or modified.

“Its giving the place a life where people encounter God on a daily basis, and for Catholics a blessed sacrament is kept for eternity for men and women to praise God in it.

“To build a church for the Lord is a blessing, its only few men and women that the lord has used to build his church. Even David, a man after God’s heart couldn’t do it, so for Dr. Chukwu and Mrs Ifeoma Uzochukwu to have come together to do this for the love of God and for the evangelization of Nkwe community, we thank him. For generation to come he will always be remembered for this good work”.

The members of the church were not left out as they all had words of praise for Dr. Uche. Hon. Charles Mmeniru revealed that this was not the first philanthropy of Uche Uzorchuchukwu, adding that “He donated a church for Nnenwe Nta people, and he joined hands to build St. Micheals Awgu Diocese so the man is a man of the people which made us give him the title ‘ike anike’ which means the power and the strong man in anike”.

Ogechuwkwu Emezie, a daughter of Nkwe who was married out of the community but attended the event showed her happiness for the development, saying “am so happy that I came to my father’s land today and I can see the great thing happening here today. I pray that God will bless them immensely.

“Before this church was erected the place was nowhere to write home about, but am happy about what am seeing here today. This is not the first or second philanthropic work he is doing in Nkwe and it won’t be the last, the man is really trying.

“His the one that helped in developing Nkwe, he has helped people get work both in the federal and state level. He is the one who built the bridge at Ezere, he is also constructing the road from here to Ezere and am so happy for what he has been doing”, she said.

Emmanuel Elochukwu, a senior citizen of Nkwe community who was ecstatic and couldn’t speak enough of the good work of the Doctor, said “Today is a great day in our community because this parish was built for us by our son, Dr. Uche Uzochukwu.

“The man has done a lot for us in this place just this year. I pray God gives him and his family long life. St. Peters before now was an extension to St. Paul in Ezere, but Ezere had their own parish after a while, so now we have our own parish which was approved today being 31st December”, he concluded.