Peter Jasper Akinola

Peter Jasper Akinola

His Early Life:
The Most Revd. Peter Jasper Akinola, DD, was born on 27th January 1944. He had his primary education in Abeokuta. In 1959, he was in N9uru to learn the art of trading, and later left there for Lagos in 1963 to learn Carpentry, majoring in furniture works. Upon graduation, he set up a furniture and patent medicine business in 1967. Both flourished well.

 

Education and the Ministry:
In 1968, St. Paul's Church Council, Nguru selected him for a Catechist Course at the Diocesan Training Centre (DTC) Wusasa, Zaria, (now St. Francis of Assisi Theological College).
He successfully completed his training and was posted back to Nguru as a Catechist in 1972. During this time, he was also actively involved in the activities of the post civil war rehabilitation programme of the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) known as Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Development (RRD).
He led the team from Nguru to Awgu in. the present day Enugu State.

Through correspondence courses, he obtained G. C. E. O'Level and ft,,'Level Certificates, and was posted to Birnin Kebbi in 1973. Later in that year, he 90t admission to the Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN), Jos" and obtained both the Diploma and Higher Diploma in Theology (with distinction) in 1978.

He was posted to Abuja operating from Suleja as a missioner. This was his first missionary journey to Abuja. He was made a deacon in 1978 and ordained a priest in 1979. In 1981, he got admission to the Virginia Theological Seminary in the USA, and obtained a Masters Degree in Theological Studies (M. 1. S).

Upon his return to Nigeria, he was posted back to Abuja (This became the second missionary journey).

He was preferred Canon in 1983 by the Rt. Revd. 1. E. Ogboyomi, the then Bishop of Kaduna. In the course of his second missionary journey to Abuja, he was consecrated diocesan Bishop of Abuja Diocese on November 26, 1989. He can be aptly described as the

"Founder" of Abuja Diocese and he has built it into a prosperous self-reliant Diocese with investments in the hospitality industry and ,in the Nigerian money market. In the education field within the Diocese, he has established twelve Nursery/Primary schools and two secondary schools.

He was elected and presented Archbishop of the defunct Province 11.1, (Northern Nigeria) in 1997, and became a member of Inter-Anglican Finance