The Uma Ukpai Evangelistic Association has announced the groundbreaking ceremony for a $250M church auditorium that can seat 120,000 worshippers in in Ohafia LGA of Abia State. Designed in the frame of an indoor stadium, the auditorium is projected to be the largest church auditorium in the world per Wikipedia criteria.

The auditorium will be built within the proposed “Uma Ukpai Prayer City” according to the project architects, Abuja based Devinci Consulting. The designers confirmed via email that the auditorium is projected to be completed in 36 months, taking into account what they termed “foreign logistics”.

Besides being a preacher, Rev. Ukpai is reported to have built several colleges in Nigeria and Ghana. The Uma Ukpai Prayer City will be his largest single project. The architects state that it will host not only the church auditorium but also event centres, meeting rooms, a clinic, 3 helipads, a petrol station, a hotel, offices and diverse parking lots.

Media managers of the project, Jabborro PR, in a statement made available to journalists, forecast that this project alone will generate hundreds of jobs and create a medium sized local economy in Ohafia. In their explanation, they stressed;

“Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai is one of Nigeria’s foremost Christian preachers and one of global acclaim. This is one man of God who has preached the gospel for over 50 years, with so many testimonies following his ministry. With this project, his annual conferences will finally have a suitable home, besides the number of jobs we expect to create with this alone”.

According to the project managers, Uhuru Global Construction Company in Aba;

“…one can say that the South East has been heavily involved in building worship centres all over the world, but not even one significant structure in their home. This will be the first and will be earth’s largest, justifiably so.”

Rev. Ukpai is popularly known as a founding father of the organized Pentecostal movement in West Africa, an evangelist who has not founded any church, but maintains a travelling evangelical ministry. Other than his itinerant preaching schedule, he does hold a weekly meeting in his fellowship headquarters in Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital, on Wednesdays.

Media managers of the project explain that Uma Ukpai Prayer City will be a memorial legacy of the evangelical ministry of preacher Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai. According to them, over 15 hectares of land have already been acquired for this project and Contract for the construction has been awarded to the duo of Uhuru Global Construction Company as facilitator of the project and Habitat Universal Concept as the contractor. The ground breaking event is slated for Friday September 2, 2022 at the site of the project. (The Guardian)

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