By Godwin Utuedoye,
His Excellency, Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama has been appointed as coadjutor archbishop of the archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria.
Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama,who is currently the archbishop of Jos archdiocese was appointed by the Holy Father, Pope Francis.
Most Rev Ignatius Ayau Kaigama who has also served as the president of CBCN, was born on July 31 1958 in Kona, diocese of Jalingo in Nigeria.
He studied theology at the St. Augustine major seminary in Jos. He was ordained a priest on 6 June 1981 for the diocese of Yola. In 1991 he received a doctorate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was appointed as the first bishop of the diocese of Jalingo on 3 February 1995, and was consecrated on 23 April 1995. He was transferred to the metropolitan see of the archdiocese of Jos on 14 April 2000.
Since 2015 he has been president of the Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA-CERAO), and a member of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization from 25 July 2012. He is the former president of the C.B.C.N., the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (2012-2018).
He will take over the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Abuja from Cardinal John Onaiyekan who clocked 75 years last January.