Missio has a special, long-standing partnership with Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, whereby supporters can sponsor the training of a seminarian or future priest. You may have read the condensed version of the Rector’s message in Mission Today. Here is Fr Albert’s full message:

Our Seminary, which has both the Philosophy and Theology Departments, currently has a total number of 714 seminarians (Philosophy = 363, Theology = 351) for this 2025/2026 academic/formation year.

Our challenges

While 2024 seemed to give some hope of peace and improved security in Nigeria, the last half of 2025 took a deeply worrisome turn. It became so bad that public schools were shutting down and even some of our seminaries in the northern part of the country were closed indefinitely.

The security situation is getting worse by the day with virtually every citizen living in fear. This is aggravated by a systematic targeting of Christians, and especially their leaders, by kidnappers and armed bandits. As a direct consequence, the ‘All Nigeria Major Seminaries Games’ scheduled for February 2026 in our Seminary has been suspended indefinitely.

In the same vein, the cost of living has remained bitingly high, without any hope of reduction any time soon. This situation resulted in the seminary overshooting her budget by several millions of naira [the local currency] to be able to successfully conclude the 2024/2025 academic and formation year.

Reasons to rejoice

In terms of vocations, We experienced a bountiful year in 2025, as 23 of our brothers were ordained deacons, while 87 were ordained priests. They came from the following dioceses and congregations: Aba, Abakaliki, Ahiara, Awgu, Awka, Ekwulobia, Enugu, Ikot Ekpene, Nnewi, Nsukka, Ogoja, Okigwe, Orlu, Port Harcourt, Capuchin, Claretian and Vincentian.

Our people have remained unwaveringly faithful and hopeful that God will definitely intervene in the situation – a determination they have expressed boldly through their increased Church attendance, devotions and practice of Christian charity.

The waves of Neopaganism and Pentecostalism remain strong and are posing some challenges to some of the light-rooted Catholic brethren in Nigeria, but in spite of that, the Church remains strong and promising.

The Catholic Church in Nigeria continues to welcome and celebrate new entrants into her fold. There has been increased reception of the sacraments and the act of witnessing, even in the presence of real and imaginary threats to life.

Our celebrations

Bigard Memorial Seminary continues to thank God for the success of some of her events in 2025. These celebrations include:

• All Major Seminaries Festival of Art and Culture (AMSFAC) 2025

The 2025 AMSFAC was held between 18-22 February 2025 at All Saints Major Seminary, Ughelli, Ekpoma in Edo State.  We actively participated and came back with second prize in Artwork, second prize in music presentation, third prize in music composition and fourth in overall position.

• Formation Weekend 2025

The formation week for 2024/2025 Academic and Formation year was held between 3 and 7 March 2025. The theme was: Neo-Paganism in the Contemporary Age: Causes, Effects, Remedies and Implications for Evangelism Today. It was facilitated by Fr Dr Jude Ezike of Nnewi Diocese.

• Pro-Life Weekend 2025

The Bigard 2025 Pro-Life weekend lasted from 9-11 May 2025. In attendance were students from other seminaries and local higher institutions and began with a pro-life march on Friday 9 May. This was followed by a round table discussion on the topic ‘The Growing Rate of Kidnapping in Nigeria in Relation to the Dignity of Human Life: Causes, Effects and Remedies’. On Saturday 10 May, after the introductory ceremonies, the Rector presented a keynote address, followed by a detailed lecture on ‘Naprotechnology: A Morally Accepted Procreative Technological Intervention to overcome Infertility’ by Hon Dr Osita Ngwu. This was followed by a Q&A session before presentation of trophies and certificates of participation.

• Mission Weekend 2025

The Seminary held her Annual Mission Weekend from 17-19 October 2025. The paper presentations centered on the general theme: Missionaries Of Hope Among All Peoples.  On the night of Friday 17 October 2025, a round table discussion was held on the topic ‘Testimonies of Hope, Learning from the Missionaries of the Past’. On the Saturday, Fr Dr Uzochukwu Njoku presented a paper on ‘Theology of Hope in the Church’s Mission in Nigeria’. The second presenter, Fr Clovis Njoku, spoke on ‘Missionaries of Hope in the Digital Age: Evangelising through Modern Media’.

• Ignatian Scholars Corps’ Lectures

A set of international zoom lectures organised by Professor Eleonore Stump of the Department of Philosophy, St Louis University in the USA and Patron of the Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, in conjunction with the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, plus Bigard Memorial Seminary, ran from 25 October – 21 November 2025. The zoom lecturer was Timothy J Pawl, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Thomas in the USA. His lectures covered four themes: The Thomistic Moral Theory, The Cardinal Virtues, The Cultivation of Virtue, and The Seven Deadly Sins.

•  NACATHS Weekend 2025

The 2025 National Association of Catholic Theology Students (NACATHS)’s Weekend held from 28-30 November 2025. Four other sister seminaries participated in discussions based on the theme ’Faith that Transforms: Encountering Christ in the Sacraments and Prayer’. On

28 November.  On 29 November, Fr Dr Kenneth Odibu of Ogoja Diocese presented a powerful and well-researched paper that focused on ‘Transformative Hope as a Sacramental Reality: Encountering Christ in Prayer and Liturgy’.  This was followed by a Q&A session, before the presentation of certificates of participation to the participants.

How we meet the challenges

Our Seminary is well known for her resilience and dynamic survival strategies. In the midst of the mounting challenges, her judicious management of available resources helps her in navigating the near economic strangulation. More so, the steadfast trust in God’s protection, in addition to periodic systematic improvement of her security architecture – including the provision of security cameras at every sensitive location in the seminary – offers some sense of respite. The Seminary has also not relented in pursuing self-sustaining projects, in order to reduce dependence on overseas benefactors, and seeks to increase the volume of local support.

One of Bigard Seminary’s desires is to become self-sufficient. Consequently, she introduced and has continued to gradually expand some schemes in this regard. Some of them include:

• Bigard Piggery Farm: Founded in 1995, this farm was started as a means of producing food for the Seminary. However, it presently serves as an income-oriented project as some of the seminary pigs are sold. It also serves as a means of educating the seminarians on livestock farming, as well as a means of evaluating the responsibility of seminarians placed in charge of the farm. The farm is presently housing approximately a total number of 160
• Bigard Poultry Farm: Founded in 1976, our poultry farm has grown from strength to strength over the years. It is presently a means of food and income, and has aided the seminary by providing breakfast, which means eggs for all the students on Sundays. The farm currently houses approximately 2,000 birds.
• Bigard Press: The seminary press is an income-oriented project, which was established to aid the students and staff in the printing and production of their work. It has aided most especially in the aspects of assignments and memoir production. The seminary is working towards making it a production center.
• Bishop Ezeanya Cybercafé: The seminary cybercafé was established in 2003 to aid our neighbours in accessing the internet, and for Bigard staff and students to conduct their research with ease, at a very affordable rate compared to other centres. The seminary has recently included a computer learning institute to this enterprise.
•  Seminary Vegetable Farm: This farm is irrigated during the dry season and provides vegetables for the seminary all throughout the year.
• Bigard Fish Pond: The seminary started a fish farm in August 2022 with about 6,000 juvenile fish. Many fish have matured and have been used to feed seminarians and formators. Currently in our seven ponds, we have about 708 fish which will be smoked and around 249 adult fish for gradual use.

With your help, we will continue

As an institution, Bigard looks forward to 2026 with high spirits. We’ve spent much of 2025 engaged in workshops, seminars, conferences and weekends ruminating on the themes of hope – especially the stratagems of embodying and spreading the virtue of hope. Although we acknowledge the enormous social and religious challenges facing Nigeria, we remain resolute on the trust that the gates of hell shall not prevail over the Church (Matthew 16:18).

We are equally hopeful that the pressure on our government for accountability might yield reasonable results and bring relief to Nigerians in 2026. But for Bigard, we continue to pursue our self-sustenance projects in order to adequately complement the efforts of our sponsors and to ensure that the daunting challenges in the country do not succeed in grounding our institution.

We will always remain grateful to our sponsors, benefactors and benefactresses for their unending supports, and seek continued provisions for the sake of the future of the Church both in Nigeria and beyond.

Fr Albert, Rector