About the Province

A collage of members of the provinceThe North-West Africa Province is made up of about 107 men. 87% of these are indigenous Nigerian and Ghanaian Jesuits, and are either priests, brothers, scholastics, and novices. The other 13% of the membership is expatriates drawing mainly from the United States, with a couple from India and Australia.

The Jesuits in North-West Africa Province run four parishes and three schools. There are three priests and two scholastics at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Benin City. This parish is about 25 kilometres from the Jesuit Novitiate andFront view St. Joseph Catholic Church Benin City Retreat Centre at Ugbekun. There are two priests running the Jesuit Novitiate in Ugbekun. Next door to the Jesuit Novitiate is the Jesuit Retreat Centre, run by four Jesuit priests, a scholastic and lay collaborators. Two priests reside and work at Christ the King Catholic Altar View Christ the King Catholic Church Church (C.K.C.), Ilasamaja, Lagos. Four priests and three scholastics work in both the parish of St. Francis Catholic Church and the school bearing the same name and in the same location as the parish in Idimu, Lagos.  Front View St. Francis Catholic Church Idimu

There are two priests, a deacon and four scholastics residing and working at Loyola Jesuit College (L.J.C.) in the capital of Nigeria, Abuja. Two of our Jesuit priests work at the Catholic Chaplaincy at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH ) and Fr. Steve Astill pronouncing his final vowsthe College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, both in Lagos, Nigeria (CMUL).

There are two Jesuit priests working at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Accra. They also teach at the diocesan high school that is attached to St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Quaye Fr. Kwame Owiredu SJ delivering a homily at St. Anthony Catholic Church AccraNungua Primary and Junior Secondary School, in Accra. Another Jesuit priests and two scholastics live and work at the retreat house in the outskirts of Cape Coast, Ghana.

The majority of the Jesuits of North-West Africa Province are still in formation. This means they are studying philosophy or theology in Kenya, Cote D’ Ivoire, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Occasionally one is sent6 to do special studies before ordination. Special studies are usually undertaken after ordination. Right now some of our Jesuit brothers are doing special studies in the United States, United Kingdom and France, and also some of the countries mentioned above.

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